The Tennessee Vols made some folks take notice on Saturday thanks to their dominant 26-10 win over Alabama in Knoxville.

Tennessee’s defense never gave the Crimson Tide a chance, and the offense did enough to put the game away in the fourth quarter.

The Volunteers are now 6-1 with five games remaining. If Tennessee can go 4-1 over the final six weeks (the Vols have a bye on Halloween), they should be a lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff.

For now, ESPN has Tennessee as the No. 10 team in their projected College Football Playoff rankings.

Based on that ranking, the Vols would currently be slotted to play on the road against Ole Miss in the first round.

“Saturday’s convincing home win against Alabama pushed the Volunteers back into the conversation, and their defense under first-year coordinator Jim Knowles continues to play at a championship-caliber level,” noted ESPN’s Heather Dinich. “Tennessee held Alabama scoreless for three quarters and had four takeaways, and the Tide converted just twice out of 13 times on third down. The Vols’ Oct. 3 home win against Auburn is even more respectable after the Tigers knocked off Georgia on Saturday in Athens.”

Tennessee has games remaining against South Carolina (away), Kentucky, Texas A&M (away), LSU, and Vanderbilt (away).

The Vols are certainly capable of winning all of those games. And if they run the table, they could be looking at a first-round bye.

But we’ve seen this season that nothing is certain in the SEC — anyone can win on any given Saturday — so the Vols still have quite a bit of work to do if they’re going to make their second playoff appearance under Josh Heupel.