You've got to be kidding. The new College Football Playoff rankings just dropped and while there was some hope that the Vols would be placed where they belong, the committee of course decided to make a monumental mistake.
The Vols moved up a spot to No. 7, but the issue here is that Ohio State is ahead of them at No. 6. This is massive for the Buckeyes because with the way seedings work, it will give Ohio State a home game in the first round over Tennessee.
That's right, with the way the bracket would fall following the conference title games, the new projection has Ohio State hosting Tennessee in the first round instead of vice versa. Tennessee took care of business in the season finale, while Ohio State suffered an embarrassing home loss to Michigan. How does this make sense?
7️⃣ in the @CFBPlayoff rankings#GBO 🍊 | #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/P6jJhxSBKa
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) December 4, 2024
Tennessee is now the No. 7 team in the country per the new CFP rankings
Following the loss to Georgia three games ago, the worry was that Tennessee would miss out on the CFP completely. However, following back-to-back wins over UTEP and Vanderbilt, the Vols are locked in. With that said, people were dreaming of one more home game in Knoxville.
Following the win over Vandy in Nashville, it sure felt like Neyland Stadium would host a first-round game, but that's not going to be the case. What does the committee see in Ohio State that would prevent Tennessee from jumping them? They fell only four spots after putting forth their worst game of the season?
Yes, the Vols got off to a slow start against Vanderbilt, but they finally woke up in the second quarter and reminded everyone why they're one of the top teams in the country. A lot of Tennessee fans are furious right now and we don't blame them. The committee messed this decision up big time, as Tennessee, in our mind, fully deserved to be ahead of the Buckeyes.