Thanks to their loss to South Carolina this past weekend, Tennessee needs to go 4-0 in November to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Vols have games remaining against Kentucky, Texas A&M (on the road), LSU, and Vanderbilt (on the road).

All of those games are winnable for Tennessee, but none — outside of maybe the Vanderbilt game — are guaranteed wins.

Former Ohio State QB says Tennessee is too mediocre to make the College Football Playoff

One person who doesn’t think the Vols will run the table in November is former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones, who is currently an analyst for CBS Sports.

“I think [they have] just too much inconsistent play — especially at the quarterback position, and then on the defense as well,” said Jones this week. “Last week, they looked great versus Alabama. But this week, LaNorris Sellers was out there like a vintage Cam Newton — especially the quarterback run he had to tie the game.

“Tennessee is just too inconsistent for me. And then the losses that they have, they just look like a mediocre team. So, they’re out.”

Look, I’m not saying Tennessee is going to run the table. I obviously have no idea how these final four games will play out.

But I’m not sure Jones has actually watched Tennessee play this season. The Vols lost by three to Texas, who was ranked No. 1 at the time. And anyone who watched Tennessee lose to South Carolina knows the Vols were the better team. Defensively the Vols have been terrific (Sellers is getting paid to make big plays, too….and he made some against UT).

There are certainly areas where Tennessee needs to improve, but they’ve been far from mediocre this season. If the Vols can clean up the details and if sophomore quarterback George MacIntyre can continue to improve, Tennessee will be as dangerous as anyone in the nation down the stretch.