Tennessee Vols fans received a firm reminder this week of how the national media attempts to control narratives about the College Football Playoff. 

The current College Football Playoff picture is a mess. There are around 15-20 teams that have a case to be in the 12-team playoff. Somehow, the committee has to sift through the resumés of multiple two-loss SEC teams and one-loss teams from other Power-4 conferences to figure out who is deserving and who isn't. 

Truthfully, there is no correct answer. No one is ever going to agree on a consensus. The process is far too subjective. And everyone is going to have a different opinion on who should be included and who shouldn't be. Someone is going to rightfully feel screwed over when the final rankings are revealed. The 12-team playoff is already helping to provide some late-season drama, but it's actually a complete disaster that opens the sport up to questions about collusion and corruption. 

Through all of this, the national media is attempting to form various narratives and many of those are harmful to the Tennessee Vols' playoff case. 

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde provided a terrific example of this weird phenomenon this week. 

Forde broke down several team's playoff cases on Sunday and his take on Ole Miss and Tennessee, two teams with similar resumés, was quite startling for Vols fans. 

From SI.com: Mississippi has a pair of big wins, dominating Georgia and an increasingly impressive beatdown of the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road in October. But the Rebels also now have two losses to unranked teams with the demise of LSU and the general mediocrity of Kentucky. Does a thorough beating of the Bulldogs outweigh Georgia’s overall better resume?

Tennessee has a single win over a ranked opponent, defeating Alabama by seven in Knoxville. But the Vols also have a bad loss (to the Arkansas Razorbacks) and the 14-point defeat at Georgia. Of the four SEC teams with two league losses, the Vols might be the most vulnerable to being left out of the playoff at 10–2.

Ok, so Forde praises Ole Miss for a home win against Georgia and a road win against South Carolina. Then he waters down how bad the Rebels' losses were to LSU (a team that is fading fast after suffering its third straight loss this past weekend) and a Kentucky team that is 1-6 in the SEC. 

Forde then quickly glosses over Tennessee's big win against Alabama before referring to the Vols' loss to Arkansas as "bad". 

Come on, Pat. You know what you're doing here. And no one is falling for it. I don't love the idea of comparing losses. I think it's a very flawed way to look at the sport. This might sound like coach speak, but it's true — every Saturday has its own identity. Mediocre teams are usually mediocre because of their lack of consistency. Talent is a factor, of course, but when mediocre teams in the SEC play at their best, they can beat any other team in the SEC. We've seen it all season long. Sometimes it's just your day.

But since we're comparing losses, let's do this. The Rebels' loss to Kentucky came in Oxford. It doesn't get much worse than losing to one of the worst teams in the conference at home. That's a bad loss. 

Tennessee, meanwhile, lost to Arkansas on the road at night. That's an underrated tough environment in Fayetteville. And the Razorbacks have played some good football at times this season. They played Texas tough this past weekend in a 10-point loss. And they nearly beat Texas A&M earlier this season, falling by four points in a close game. 

Forde describing Tennessee's loss to Arkansas as "bad" while simply referring to Kentucky as "mediocre" while leaving out that Ole Miss lost that game at home is pretty poor "journalism". 

Now, as for the wins, which is more impressive, Ole Miss over Georgia or Tennessee over Alabama? 

The Rebels were more dominant in their home win against Georgia than Tennessee was in their win against Alabama. But Alabama beat Georgia earlier this year. And Alabama is viewed as a playoff team currently. So if Tennessee beat Alabama and Alabama beat Georgia and Ole Miss beat Georgia and Georgia beat Tennessee, then isn't this kind of an endless circle with no "correct" answer?

(By the way, Tennessee's overtime win against Florida isn't looking too bad now that the Gators are seemingly back on track after a win against LSU….and again, LSU beat Ole Miss.)

Don't let the national media fool you. The Vols are in the same class as Alabama, Ole Miss, and Georgia. 

Tennessee is just hoping the playoff committee can see what the national media is obviously incapable of seeing. 

The truth about the Tennessee Vols’ loss to Georgia that Bulldogs fans and the national media are unwilling to admit

Pretty big deal