Unlike in two of the last three seasons under Josh Heupel (2022 and 2024), the Tennessee Vols won’t make it out of September undefeated due to their 44-41 overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 3.

All of the Vols’ goals, however, are still very much attainable (winning the SEC, reaching the College Football Playoff, and hosting a playoff game).

Tennessee, in fact, is being projected as a College Football Playoff team by ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

Dinich, one of the most plugged-in reporters when it comes to covering the College Football Playoff committee, has Tennessee as the No. 10 seed following the Vols’ blowout win against UAB.

It helps that Tennessee’s season-opening win against Syracuse looks a lot better after the Orange knocked off the Clemson Tigers this week on the road.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich details how the College Football Playoff committee will view Tennessee’s loss to Georgia

According to Dinich, the Vols likely won’t be penalized for their narrow loss to the Bulldogs, though she noted that the committee will keep Tennessee behind Georgia as long as the two programs have similar records.

“The selection committee considers how teams win — and how they lose — and the Vols have managed to do both as well as can be expected,” wrote Dinich after the conclusion of Week 4’s games. “The committee isn’t going to penalize Tennessee for its 44-41 overtime loss to Georgia, though it will keep the Vols behind the Dawgs as long as their records are comparable.”

That’s certainly good news for the Vols.

A win against Georgia obviously would’ve been huge for Tennessee. Unfortunately for the Vols, the game just didn’t go their way. UT had a field goal attempt to win the game, but it went wide right.

As it is, Tennessee’s overtime loss to Georgia could end up being the “best” loss in all of college football this season.

That won’t make Vols fans feel better about the loss, but it’s still a good thing for Tennessee’s postseason hopes.