Tennessee wrapped up its regular season with a comfortable victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday to complete a 10-2 (6-2 SEC) regular season. The win locked the Vols into the College Football Playoffs and now they are just waiting to see their path following next weekend’s conference championships.
The Vols jumped one-spot to No. 7 in the latest CFP rankings that the committee released on Tuesday night. Tennessee jumped Miami in the rankings after the Hurricanes fell at Syracuse on Saturday afternoon. However, the jump in the rankings does not effect on where Tennessee will be seeded in the 12-team playoff.
Since the four highest ranked conference winners receive first round byes and no ACC or Big 12 teams are currently ranked ahead of Tennessee, the Vols remain in the nine-seed slot entering conference championship weekend. The line between being the eight-seed and the nine-seed is an incredibly important one with the difference being hosting a first round game or heading on the road.
The way the bracket currently stands, Tennessee would travel to Columbus to face eight-seed Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. If the Vols get past Ryan Day and the Buckeyes then they’ll face the one-seed in the quarterfinals.
If chalk holds in conference championship weekend, that would mean Tennessee would face No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl if they were to defeat Ohio State.
Tennessee remaining behind Ohio State is the biggest and worst news for the Vols in the latest rankings. With Michigan upsetting Ohio State on Saturday, the Buckeyes ended the regular season with a 10-2 (7-2 Big 10) record.
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The Buckeyes do have a better resume than Tennessee with similar losses and a pair of top 10 wins over Penn State and Indiana while the Vols have a lone top notch win over Alabama. However, the committee at times has put more value on how teams are currently playing as opposed to resumes when it comes to the rankings. Tennessee hoped that the committee would follow that line of thinking and bump the Vols over the Buckeyes.
Could anything change for Tennessee’s fate during conference championship week? That is unclear at the moment. If No. 3 Penn State and No. 5 Georgia lose to No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 Texas in the Big 10 and SEC Championship games this weekend, either team could drop in the rankings.
It seems unlikely that either would drop all the way below Tennessee and have to go on the road to open up the playoffs. However, Ohio State could potentially jump Penn State given they defeated the Nittany Lions in the regular season and would have a better resume despite boasting one fewer win.
In that case, Tennessee would travel on the road to Penn State or Georgia instead of Ohio State in the first round of the playoffs but the Vols would still be the nine-seed. With the Vols not jumping Ohio State on Tuesday night, hosting a playoff game at Neyland Stadium seems unlikely.
Tennessee will officially figure out its postseason draw next Sunday, Dec. 8 at noon ET on ESPN.
