ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy, a former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback, made some comments about the Tennessee Vols this week that the College Football Playoff committee needs to hear. 

Tennessee is currently 8-2 after suffering a 31-17 loss on the road to the Georgia Bulldogs last weekend. 

The Vols are now one of several SEC programs with two losses that are hoping to be included in the 12-team College Football Playoff. 

Tennessee has a solid case to make the playoff, but so do the other two-loss SEC teams. Unless some wild upsets happen over the final couple of weeks (which is very possible), a playoff-caliber SEC team is going to be left out of the tournament. 

The Vols no longer control their own destiny after the loss to Georgia, which means Tennessee needs some help — from the national media and from teams like Florida (against Ole Miss) and Ohio State (Indiana) — to solidify a spot in the playoff. 

McElroy did his part to help the Vols' case this week by suggesting that Tennessee could be a "problem" for opposing teams if they reach the playoff. 

"I do think Nico Iamaleava showed some things in the second half (against Georgia) that has me feeling pretty confident about what he could become," said McElroy. "If Tennessee gets in, look, it's no guarantee right now, but if Tennessee gets in, they could be a problem with what they have developing at quarterback, the commitment to the run game, and a defense that, while they had an off night the other night, has been really dominant at times this year."

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The College Football Playoff committee doesn't have an easy task when it comes to narrowing the playoff field to just 12 teams. There's no objective way to rank most of these teams — especially since some teams play harder schedules than other teams (and even that's very subjective….though no one seems interested in having that conversation). 

Ultimately, the playoff should be about getting the teams that are playing the best football at the end of the season in a postseason tournament so they can battle it out on the field until a champion is crowned. 

Is Tennessee one of the 12 best teams in the country? 

Probably. 

But the same can be said for Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas, and probably even South Carolina (the Gamecocks could easily be 9-1 right now, and they should be at least 8-2 after getting robbed against LSU earlier this season…but because wins and losses are weighed so heavily in this debate, they stand no chance of getting into the playoff — even though South Carolina is playing some of the best football in the country right now….it's a really silly post-season system that college football has created in some senses). Not all of those teams are getting in. And whoever gets left out will have a legitimate gripe with the committee (assuming they each win out). 

The committee should want the teams that are playing the best football in the country right now in the tournament. They should want the teams that could be "problems" playing for a national championship, not the teams that had a smooth September and October, but haven't really proved anything otherwise. 

Maybe the committee will listen to McElroy when it comes to Tennessee. After all, the Vols have one of the best wins in college football this season (against Alabama) and their only two missteps came on the road in nightmare environments at night. Not all losses are created equal and that's something the committee must consider. 

Kirby Smart’s comments after beating Tennessee should help the Vols’ playoff case

Maybe they’ll listen