ESPN’s Greg McElroy delivered a blunt message about why Tennessee isn’t getting more respect in the CFP rankings and it’ll frustrate Vols fans
The Tennessee Vols are ranked No. 13 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, eight spots behind the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Tennessee fans — and college football fans in general — are having trouble understanding why the Vols are ranked No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings while Alabama is at No. 5.
Tennessee and Alabama have the same record and the Vols own a 26-10 win over the Crimson Tide.
And yet Alabama is ranked eight spots ahead of Tennessee.
Greg McElroy explains one big reason why the Vols aren’t getting respect from the College Football Playoff committee
ESPN’s Greg McElroy, a former Crimson Tide quarterback, thinks there’s an argument to be made that Tennessee should be ranked ahead of Alabama.
He also explained why he thinks Tennessee isn’t getting any respect from the committee.
McElroy thinks it’s because the Vols’ offense hasn’t been elite this season.
“Tennessee beat Alabama head to head,” said McElroy. “Alabama did not look good in that game. Alabama did not move the ball with consistency in that game. Tennessee controlled the line of scrimmage in that game. I also look at Tennessee, and it’s almost like the committee is putting more of a premium on offensive efficiency numbers. Teams that play great offense have been rewarded in many cases, whereas Tennessee, they sit at 41st in offensive efficiency.
“It’s like, yeah, never mind the fourth ranked defensive efficiency (from Tennessee), can you score? And that hasn’t really been the case for Tennessee. That’s not how they’ve tried to win games. Now, they have a couple losses. They lost at South Carolina. They lost to Texas at home. There’s no shame in that. And yet you lose two games by a combined six points and you sit at No. 13, eight spots behind a team that you beat head to head. That’s a hard one for me to wrap my head around. I think you can make a very strong argument on behalf of Tennessee to be a top 10 team. You can easily make a case that they should be ahead of Alabama. So I can understand why Tennessee fans are very frustrated right now. I would be frustrated if I were them as well.”
It does feel like Tennessee’s offensive struggles are one of the reasons why the Vols aren’t getting more love from the committee — which is bizarre.
I mean, to quote Herm Edwards, you play to win the game. And Tennessee has done what they’ve needed to do to win on Saturdays. They came up short against Texas and South Carolina, but their approach worked. It’s not like they’re the 2022 Vols who saw their offense disappear in a big game against Georgia and they had no shot.
The Vols’ defense is a weapon, and it should certainly be getting more respect from the committee.
