Where Tennessee Lands in First College Football Playoff Rankings

Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers landed at No. 17 in the first College Football Playoff Rankings that were released on Tuesday night.

Tuesday night symbolizes the shift in what rankings are used on the official broadcasts as the CFB Playoff rankings now take over.

Tennessee’s CFB Playoff ranking is two spots higher than their Week 10 AP Top 25 ranking at No. 19 in the country.

The Vols are the sixth highest-ranked team from the Southeastern Conference in the first CFB Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. Georgia lands at No. 2 in the rankings followed by Alabama just inside the Top 10 at No. 8.

Ole Miss comes in next at No. 10, followed by the Missouri Tigers at No. 12 and the LSU Tigers at No. 14.

Tennessee has four more regular season games to play this season with two of those opponents being ranked in the Top 12 of the CFB Playoff rankings with Missouri and Georgia. The Vols will host UConn this week and then travel to Missouri before returning home for back-to-back home games against Georgia and Vanderbilt to close out the regular season.

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After losing to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Tennessee was able to bounce back with a huge road win this past weekend against Kentucky in Lexington. The Vols showed grit and toughness in the four-quarter win which was highlighted by Joe Milton’s mobility, the skill of Tennessee’s running backs, and the foot of kicker Charles Campbell.

Here’s a look at how Tennessee has been ranked in the various polls throughout the season:

As far as the playoff projections go, the top four teams are No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Michigan, and No. 4 Florida State.

No. 5 Washington, No. 6 Oregon, and No. 7 Texass are on the outside looking in.