How far Tennessee is expected to climb in new College Football Playoff rankings and the 10 outcomes the Vols need to root for in Week 13
The Tennessee Vols need a lot of chaos to happen to even have a slight chance of reaching the College Football Playoff rankings.
The Tennessee Vols’ College Football Playoff hopes aren’t completely dead, but they’re definitely on life support.
Tennessee, which is 7-3 and was ranked No. 23 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings, needs to win out over the final two weeks of the regular season. And they need a LOT of chaos to happen.
The Athletic thinks the Vols will move up to No. 20 when the new College Football Playoff rankings are released on Tuesday night (UT should pass Louisville, Iowa, and Pittsburgh).
If Tennessee comes in at No. 20 this week, it means they’ll need to climb about 10 spots over the final two weeks of the season — which will be no easy task.
The results the Tennessee Vols need to hope for this weekend
It’s pretty simple for Tennessee at this point — the Vols basically need every team in front of them to lose over the final two weeks (except for teams at the very top, like Ohio State, Texas A&M, or Indiana).
Here are the results, specifically, that Vols fans should root for this weekend.
Virginia Tech over Miami: This would give Miami three losses on the season, though it may not drop them behind Tennessee thanks to the Hurricanes’ win over Notre Dame earlier this season.
Missouri over Oklahoma: The Sooners need to lose this week to Missouri and next week to LSU for the Vols to pass them in the rankings.
Arkansas over Texas: This would be the Longhorns’ fourth loss and would likely drop Texas behind Tennessee.
Syracuse over Notre Dame: This would make the Vols’ win over Syracuse look a little better and it would be Notre Dame’s third loss.
Vanderbilt over Kentucky: Tennessee finishes the season with a matchup against Vanderbilt. If the Vols beat Florida this weekend, it would set up a regular season finale between a two-loss Vandy and a three loss Tennessee. The Vols need Vanderbilt to come into that game with only two losses (which would make it a “signature win” for UT).
Oregon over USC: The Athletic predicts that USC will be ranked six spots ahead of the Vols this week. Tennessee badly needs the Ducks to beat the Trojans.
Kansas State over Utah: Tennessee needs to hope that only one Big 12 team get into the playoff. Utah is currently 8-2.
Pittsburgh over Georgia Tech: Similar to the Big 12, the Vols can’t afford for more than one ACC team to reach the playoff. Georgia Tech only has one loss, but finishing the season with losses to Pittsburgh and Georgia could drop the Yellow Jackets behind Tennessee.
Maryland over Michigan: The Athletic predicts that Michigan will be ranked three spots ahead of the Vols this week. A loss to Maryland should help Tennessee pass the Wolverines.
Cincinnati over BYU: BYU is currently 9-1 and Texas is currently 10-1. The Red Raiders only have one game remaining this season (against West Virginia), so they’re likely going to make the playoff. Tennessee needs to hope BYU loses this week to Cincinnati and next week to UCF.
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