Tennessee football’s College Football Playoff draw is officially set. The committee ranked the Vols as No. 7 team in the country and the nine-seed in the inaugural 12-team playoffs.
The Vols will go on the road in their first game, facing eight-seed Ohio State in Columbus in just under two weeks.
If Tennessee wins on the road at Ohio State, they’ll advance to the quarterfinals where they’ll face No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl. The Ducks are the lone undefeated team remaining in the entire country, earning wins over Boise State and Ohio State at home in the regular season and over Penn State in the Big 10 Championship game Saturday.
Josh Heupel’s fourth Tennessee team as a very challenging path, having to go on the road to beat Ohio State before facing Oregon. That’s all before the semifinals. Compare that to 11-seed SMU who has to face Penn State before facing Boise State if they pull off the upset.
Tennessee enters the playoffs with a 10-2 (6-2 SEC) record earning wins over rivals Florida and Alabama while suffering an upset loss at Arkansas and a loss at SEC Champion Georgia. That was good enough to easily get Tennessee in the first 12-team playoff but it wasn’t enough to get them a home game.
The Vols have won 10 games in the regular season for the second time in the last three years under Heupel’s leadership. Before his arrival in Knoxville, Tennessee hadn’t won 10 games in the regular season in the previous 20 years.
In Heupel’s four years as a head coach, Tennessee is 37-14 (20-12 SEC) and has been on of the SEC’s best programs. They’ll look to elevate themselves even further by making a run in the 12-team College Football Playoffs.
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College Football Playoff Field (seeding)
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Boise State
- Arizona State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- SMU
- Clemson
First Round Matchups
No. 16 Clemson at No. 5 Texas
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 6 Ohio State
No. 10 SMU at No. 4 Penn State
No. 8 Indiana at No. 5 Notre Dame
