The initial College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday evening.
And while these rankings are not representative of what the final rankings will be, what if they were?
Here’s a look at what Tennessee’s potential path to the championship would look like if Tuesday’s first rankings were the final rankings.
First College Football Playoff Reveal
The selection committee revealed a look at the first edition of the 12-team playoff rankings on Tuesday night, which will be followed by four more rankings updates until the final rankings are revealed on Sunday, Dec. 8, at Noon ET.
The rankings on Tuesday give the college football world a good look at the committee’s process in selecting and ranking teams, which is an expanded format from the previous decade of four-team playoff pictures.
The CFP rankings will be updated each Tuesday night until the final rankings release on Sunday, Dec. 8, following the conference championship game slate.
Where Tennessee Ranks in First Playoff Reveal
The selection committee slotted Tennessee at No. 7 in Tuesday’s first rankings.
Because of the playoff formatting, though, Tennessee lands as the 8-seed in the first playoff bracket. BYU was slotted at No. 9 in the rankings but currently holds the four-seed as the leader of the Big 12 conference at the time of the rankings on Tuesday. BYU’s jump from the No. 9 ranking to the 4-seed is why Tennessee is slotted as the 8-seed.
Tennessee has a 7-1 overall record with four conference wins and one conference loss. Josh Heupel’s group has three ranked wins on the season but only Alabama is still ranked at the time of the first CFP rankings.
Tennessee is the third highest-ranked SEC team in the rankings behind No. 3 Georgia and No. 5 Texas.
CFP Committee Chair Warde Manuel on Tennessee: Tennessee has an impressive win over Alabama at No. 11 and wins over NC State and Oklahoma, 4-1 against teams above .500, the loss at Arkansas was something that we discussed a lot.
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) November 6, 2024
More from RTI: Tennessee’s Josh Heupel Goes Way Back With Mississippi State’s Jeff Lebby
What Tennessee’s Path Would Be
If the first rankings were the final rankings, Tennessee would have a home game at Neyland Stadium for their first-round matchup on either Dec. 20 or Dec. 21.
The top four teams in the rankings will receive a first-round bye while the next eight teams battle it out for a spot in the quarterfinals. Teams ranked No. 5 through No. 8 will host the first-round game from their own campus while teams No. 9 through No. 12 will travel for those games.
In this scenario, 8-seed (No. 7) Tennessee would host 9-seed (No. 8) Indiana in a first-round game from Knoxville, TN.
The first CFP bracket projection with the 12-team playoff era has dropped 🏈 pic.twitter.com/HXK3syhbEE
— ESPN (@espn) November 6, 2024
With a win, Tennessee would advance to the quarterfinals where the games move to the bowl slate. The quarterfinal sites include the Fiesta Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl.
No. 7 Tennessee would take on No. 1 and top overall seed Oregon in the quarterfinals with these rankings.
With a win, Tennessee would advance to the semi-finals. The semi-final sites are the Orange Bowl in Miami, FL, and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX.
The National Championship game will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA, on Jan. 20.
Updated Rankings
The CFP rankings will continue to change as the season plays out over the next handful of weeks. Teams will have chances to improve their positioning with wins but could be in danger of losing their spot with specific losses in the home stretch.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider each Tuesday night for a look at Tennessee Football’s updated spot in the College Football Playoff rankings.
- Tuesday, Nov. 5: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, Nov. 12: 8:30 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, Nov. 19: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, Nov. 26: 8:00 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, Dec. 3: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Sunday, Dec. 8: Noon ET
