There’s a good chance that perhaps no national media member is higher on Tennessee this season than CBS Sports analyst Rick Neuheisel.
CBS Sports’ Inside College Football crew posted their College Football Playoff projections heading into Week 6 earlier this week with a big surprise right away.
Neuheisel’s projection has Tennessee as the top overall seed in the CFB playoff.
With Alabama at the 5-spot in the projections, Neuheisel’s projections indicate that Tennessee will beat the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. The Vols could make the SEC title game without an undefeated record but a SEC Championship title would almost guarantee that winner the top overall seed in the playoffs.
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Neuheisel’s projections have Tennessee as the SEC Champion, Ohio State as the Big Ten Champion, Clemson as the ACC Champion, and Kansas State as the Big 12 Champion.
Neuheisel also projects a bit of a slide for the nation’s No. 2 team with Texas sliding down behind Alabama and Georgia for the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.
CBS Sports’ Instagram post featured four total projections, though. The other three all have Alabama as the SEC Champion and No. 1 overall seed while slotting Tennessee as the No. 6 seed and hosting the first round in Knoxville.
Brian Jones has Tennessee taking on No. 11 Michigan, Aaron Taylor has Tennessee playing No. 11 Notre Dame, and Randy Cross has the Vols against Southern California – all taking place from Neyland Stadium.
Projections are a gold mine for fans and rat poison for teams, though. Tennessee just needs to keep their focus on their next opponent and not listen to the outside praise, no matter how loud it may get.
The No. 4 Vols will take their 4-0 record into Razorback Stadium on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET against the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-2).
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage from Fayetteville on Saturday night.
