The Tennessee Vols are officially at the halfway point of the 2025 schedule after improving to 5-1 on the season via a 34-31 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Tennessee is still very much in the College Football Playoff picture as we enter the final half of the 2025 college football season.

For now, ESPN has the Volunteers at No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings, which would leave Tennessee as the first team out of the playoff due to automatic qualifiers for the Big 12 champion and the highest-ranked Group of Five team.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich drops important nugget on how the College Football Playoff committee will view Tennessee’s win against Syracuse

If Tennessee wins out, it’ll be one of the top seeds in the College Football Playoff.

The Vols should still be safely in the playoff, even if they suffer another loss this season. For an SEC team, 10-2 should be enough to get in, as was the case last season.

If Tennessee finishes the season at 9-3, then its College Football Playoff hopes will depend on how the season plays out for the rest of the sport.

One thing that could work in Tennessee’s favor if it finishes the season at 9-3 is that the College Football Playoff committee, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich, will take into account that Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli was healthy when the Orange lost to the Vols in the season-opener.

“The Vols were fortunate to beat a 2-4 Arkansas team at home — one week after they escaped Mississippi State with an overtime win,” wrote Dinich. “It hasn’t been pretty, and Tennessee is still searching for a statement win. They’ve got an FCS win, a lopsided win against UAB, and a decent nonconference win against a 3-3 Syracuse team that was more formidable with its starting quarterback in the lineup at the time they played them. That’s a detail the selection committee would consider.”

Angeli suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Syracuse’s win over Clemson earlier this season.

Syracuse is 0-2 with losses to SMU and Duke since losing Angeli for the year.

The Vols’ win over Syracuse probably won’t look great on paper by the end of the year, but it sounds like the committee will give Tennessee some credit for beating the Orange with Angeli under center.

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