Tuesday night, the fourth edition of the 2023 College Football Playoff rankings were released, and for the fourth straight week, Tennessee cracked the Top 25.
However, the Vols were the lowest they’ve been ranked all season, coming in at No. 21. It was a three-spot drop for Tennessee following their 38-10 loss to Georgia in Neyland Stadium last Saturday.
Following the rankings release, college football reporters got to talk to committee chair Boo Corrigan, like they do every week. Outkick SEC reporter Trey Wallace asked Corrigan why Tennessee remained in the rankings, as the Vols have been outscored 74-17 over the past two weeks in losses to Missouri and Georgia.
Corrigan responded by saying Tennessee was a “really good team earlier in the year,” which is why they are still a top 25 team, according to CBS college football reporter Barrett Sallee.
Boo Corrigan says No. 21 Tennessee was a “really good team earlier in the year” when asked by @TreyWallace_ what the though process was when ranking the Volunteers in the Top 25.
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) November 22, 2023
Former Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen commented on Sallee’s tweet, making fun of Corrigan’s comment while also taking a shot at Tennessee.
Must be talking about that 17 point win over Austin Peay
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) November 22, 2023
While Austin Peay clearly isn’t Tennessee’s best win on the schedule, the Vols don’t have many good wins by their name. Their best win is a 20-13 victory over Texas A&M in Neyland Stadium in mid-October. The Aggies will likely finish 7-5 as they are not favored against LSU this weekend.
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Overall, it’s been another disappointing season for Texas A&M, and they fired head coach Jimbo Fisher two Sundays ago.
Tennessee’s second-best win came against Kentucky in Lexington earlier this month, but like the Aggies, the Wildcats haven’t been a great team this year.
They’re a bowl team, but unless they can upset Louisville this weekend, Kentucky will finish 6-6.
Other wins on Tennessee’s schedule have come against 8-3 UTSA, 5-6 South Carolina, 3-8 Virginia, 2-9 UConn and the aforementioned 9-2 Austin Peay.
Mullen wasn’t the only one who was displeased with Tennessee’s ranking, as it was met with scrutiny by various college football reporters on X and the panel on ESPN’s rankings release show.
A topic of debate on Tuesday’s show was Oregon State dropping five spots despite only losing by two points to No. 5 Washington. While making the argument, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy pointed to Tennessee only dropping three as a reason Oregon State was unjustly penalized for a close loss against a top five team.
Did Oregon State fall too far after their 2-point loss to Washington?#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/lKqPSmNoBw
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) November 22, 2023
It was surprising seeing Tennessee still ranked given how the past two weeks have gone. After all, the Vols are one of only two four-loss teams in the Top 25, with the other being Clemson. However, the Tigers have climbed back into the rankings after achieving two ranked wins in the past month, whereas Tennessee has no ranked wins this year.
4 Responses
Tennessee’s play calling created predictable tendencies, I blame that on the OC, but ultimately it falls back on Heupel. Milton was inconsistent with his accuracy and he made a lot of freshman mistakes for someone in his sixth year. I hope to see Nico get a lot of playing time in the next two games.
Dan Mullen needs to take the Florida cap off, again, wasn’t he fired from that program? and does he believe that he is still relevant?
Maybe Mullen’s wife is still kissing players at Florida so he feels connected
Imagine Dan thinking he is still relevant.