The latest College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night and the Tennessee Vols jumped from No. 10 to No. 7 after their 56-0 road win against Vanderbilt.

Alabama, which lost to Tennessee earlier this season, is ranked No. 6. The Crimson Tide also lost to LSU earlier this season, a team the Vols beat by 27 points in Baton Rouge.

The reason for ranking Tennessee below Alabama is because of the Vols' 25-point loss to South Carolina in Columbia.

Tennessee has wins over No. 6 Alabama and No. 14 LSU. Alabama's best win, meanwhile, is against No. 21 Texas.

The College Football Playoff committee is essentially saying that losses matter more than wins. Or at least that's what they're saying to justify ranking Bama above UT.

In other scenarios, however, the committee gave the edge to the team with the head-to-head win (LSU ranked one spot below Florida State and Oregon ranked one spot below Oregon State).

You can make of that what you want, but it seems clear that the committee is showing some favoritism to Alabama.

Earlier on Tuesday, we heard former Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt, who played and coached at Alabama, suggest that Tennessee should be ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide because of the Vols' head-to-head win.

Jeremy Pruitt thinks Ohio State is in over Bama or Tennessee if USC loses. He also thinks Bama would beat the Vols in a rematch. But he says Tennessee should be ranked above Alabama in the CFP rankings bc Vols won head to head and beat LSU. pic.twitter.com/xi2tvLMMNP

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) November 29, 2022

Pruitt isn't the only former SEC coach who feels like the committee got it wrong.

Former Florida/Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen also feels like the Volunteers should be ranked ahead of Bama.

If Alabama and Tennessee are ranked next to each other Tennessee should be ranked higher than Alabama. They won on the field.

— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) November 30, 2022

Tennessee isn't going to make the playoff, but these rankings still matter.

The Sugar Bowl takes the highest-ranked SEC team that doesn't make the playoff. That should be Tennessee. But because of the favoritism shown toward Alabama, that spot will currently go to the Crimson Tide.

Before Tuesday, the feeling was that if the Vols were ranked below Alabama, then Tennessee would be destined for the Orange Bowl for a likely matchup against Clemson (assuming they beat North Carolina in the ACC Championship game this weekend).

But that might not be the case after all. During the playoff rankings reveal show on ESPN, it was mentioned that there's a push for Penn State to reach the Rose Bowl which would send the Buckeyes to the Orange Bowl. This would result in the Vols being dropped to the Cotton Bowl.

It's a completely absurd scenario, but it shows how corrupt the College Football Playoff has become.

Fortunately, an expanded playoff is on the way and a lot of these debates won't matter in the coming years.

But unfortunately for Tennessee, that won't help them out this year. The Vols are simply victims of not having a cursive A or a block O by their name.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports