Tuesday’s update to the college football playoff rankings spelled out good news for the Tennessee football team.
After handling their business last weekend against UTEP, the Vols slid into playoff position in Tuesday’s update after a handful of top 15 teams around them fell in the penultimate week of the regular season. Tennessee benefitted from Indiana, Alabama, and Ole Miss losing, effectively sliding the Vols up three spots in the CFB Playoff rankings to No. 8 on Tuesday night.
The college football media world seems to be in lockstep that Tennessee has a very simple path to the playoffs – beat Vanderbilt in Nashville this weekend and you punch your ticket to the dance. Still, though, some are doubtful of Tennessee being one of the national championship contenders despite its playoff projection.
Take ESPN’s Greg McElroy for example. The former Alabama quarterback sympathized with Tennessee fans’ frustration about the rankings last week and did state on Tuesday that the Vols are in a “prime position” heading into the final week of the regular season. That being said, though, McElroy isn’t necessarily tagging Tennessee as one of the teams that could go all the way.
“Tennessee is at No. 8, they’re in prime position after the losses all around them,” McElroy said. “Is Tennessee a national championship contender at the moment? I don’t see them that way but, by process of elimination because of the way other teams have played, Tennessee went from being on the outside looking in to now the inside looking out because of the loss by Bama and the loss by Ole Miss. So, Tennessee [is] in prime position to secure a playoff spot and a heavy favorite, a healthy favorite this weekend against Vandy. So Tennessee [can] punch their ticket with a road win against the Vanderbilt Commodores.”
McElroy’s comments on Tennessee are courtesy of the Always College Football podcast, which was recorded in the immediate moments after the ranking update was revealed on Tuesday night. We’ll certainly keep up with how McElroy’s thoughts may or may not change as the week goes on, too.
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While Tennessee’s offense has been criticized at points this season, the Vols actually present one of the most balanced teams in the current playoff projections. Tennessee has the 11th-ranked total offense in the country and the sixth-ranked total defense, both stats according to ESPN’s 2024 yards per game metric.
McElroy’s stance isn’t crazy, especially considering that Tennessee’s national championship odds according to Fanduel sit behind Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, Notre Dame, and Penn State. The Vols’ odds (+2100) are one spot above Miami FL and are comfortably above other projected playoff entrants such as SMU and Indiana.
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Admittedly, though, the championship conversation is not one that needs to be had right now. Tennessee still has to go handle business against Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville to punch their ticket in the first place, and then it’s a one-game season over the span of a handful of weeks as Tennessee looks to climb the playoff bracket from wherever they may be seeded.
Vanderbilt will host No. 8 Tennessee at Noon ET on Saturday in Nashville’s FirstBank Stadium. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game on Saturday.
Check out the full clip from Greg McElroy’s Always College Football podcast below:
