Committee gives Tennessee Vols a lump of coal in latest College Football Playoff rankings
The Tennessee Volunteers indeed are going to be a part of the College Football Playoff field, as confirmed by the latest rankings and bracket release on Tuesday night. However, Tennessee fans are not happy, and they have a right to be upset. The Vols checked in at #7 in the rankings, up one spot from […]
The Tennessee Volunteers indeed are going to be a part of the College Football Playoff field, as confirmed by the latest rankings and bracket release on Tuesday night.
However, Tennessee fans are not happy, and they have a right to be upset. The Vols checked in at #7 in the rankings, up one spot from last week. The problem is they had to be at #6 in order to host a home game in the first round of the playoff. That went to Ohio State, who lost at home to Michigan on Saturday as a 21-point favorite.
As a result, the Vols are projected to head to Columbus for their opening game of the playoff.
Ohio State fell four spots from 2 to 6 at home. In case you were wondering, Tennessee dropped further when they lost on the road at 5 seed Georgia in a game where the Vols were within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The snub there is obviously an important one for Tennessee. The Vols have won just one home game in the last 3 seasons under Josh Heupel. Conversely, they've had some major struggles on the road, and Ohio Stadium is obviously a tough place to play.
Oh, and if the Vols lose, they would get the reward of taking on the #1 overall seed in the playoff, in this case Oregon. That would be across the country in the Rose Bowl. Of course, that could be Texas if Oregon loses and the Horns beat Georgia. But still, that's quite the back to back games.
Compare that with 11 seed Alabama, who would play at Notre Dame (not appreciably better than Ohio State and perhaps even not as good) and then would play SMU. Tennessee would surely sign up for that path 10 times out of 10.
There's still two games that could potentially impact where the Vols are, but it's still unlikely. Penn State would have to lose convincingly to Oregon, and Georgia would have to get their doors blown off by Texas – and even then, the committee would have to ignore the head to head result with Tennessee.
It's not likely that the Vols move up, but we'll see how things shake out on Saturday. For now, Vol fans should start to accept the likelihood of UT heading to Columbus the weekend before Christmas.
