CFP committee's reasoning behind Tennessee's new ranking makes zero sense

Tennessee football is the first team to drop out of the updated College Football Playoff rankings. The Vols are ranked No. 11, but with the new playoff format, they would be the No. 13 seed, which excludes them from the 12-team tournament for the national championship. 

The Vols' biggest issue in the eyes of the CFP committee is their loss to Arkansas. Tennessee's most disappointing performance of the season is that loss, but it shouldn't be considered as big a problem as it is.

Arkansas is considered a key win for Texas but a bad loss for Tennessee, showing the committee's double standard for different teams. That's why CFP chair and Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel's defense for keeping Tennessee out makes no sense. 

"They just had a loss to Georgia, and they had the loss at Arkansas," Manuel said. "It's really splitting hairs… the committee just had a hard time with four really good (SEC) teams… they have beat each other… it is close."

As McKee mentions in the second half of his post, Manuel and the committee seem to value Alabama's wins over Tennessee's, including the Tide's win over Mercer this past weekend. 

It seems that the committee allows recency bias to play a major factor in their rankings, so if Tennessee wants to earn one of the final spots in the top 12, the Vols will have to put on two great performances in their final two games of the season. 

Tennessee has UTEP and Vanderbilt remaining on the schedule. Vanderbilt is a key win for Texas and Alabama, so the Vols will have the opportunity to earn their third key win in the eyes of the committee. If Tennessee can do it in a dominant fashion, there shouldn't be any argument from the committee about Tennessee's qualifications to make the CFP.