National analyst predicts Tennessee will make a huge jump in the College Football Playoff rankings after blowout win over Kentucky
The Tennessee Volunteers made a statement with a convincing blowout win over the Kentucky Wildcats.
Tennessee was ranked outside of the top 12 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
That won’t be the case this week.
The Vols will almost certainly move into the top 10 after making a statement with a 34-6 win over No. 6 Kentucky.
On3’s Andy Staples, in fact, has Tennessee moving from No. 13 to No. 4 in his updated playoff rankings.
“I won’t be too bent out of shape if the committee has Alabama above Tennessee as long as the Volunteers are closer to the Crimson Tide,” wrote Staples. “After all, I have Tennessee above Texas even though Texas has a head-to-head win against the Vols and the same record as Tennessee. But automatically moving Texas would have forced me to put the Longhorns ahead of Alabama as well. I rank Tennessee and Alabama above the Longhorns because the Vols and Crimson Tide have as good a collection of wins and don’t have two terrible losses.”
Not everyone is as high on Tennessee as Staples.
The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman, for example, only has the Vols at No. 10 in his predicted rankings.
It’ll be interesting to see where the committee places Tennessee this week. If they’re in the same cluster as Alabama, there will be a very strong argument for the Vols to be above the Crimson Tide. We’ll see if the committee actually does it, though.
