Tennessee football drops out of top-ten in AP Poll

Tennessee football drops three spots in the Week Eight Associated Press Poll. This comes after Tennessee's offense continues to struggle, but the defense is playing like one of the best units in the nation, holding off Florida to earn the win. 

Tennessee was No. 8 last week and has dropped to No. 11 after beating Florida 23-17. It took the Vols an overtime period to outlast the Gators, but any win over a rival, no matter where it's played, should be considered a win for a program that has seen very few rivalry wins in the past decade.

Texas remains No. 1 after shellacking Oklahoma. Oregon takes a well-deserved jump to No. 2 after beating Ohio State, the Buckeyes drop to No. 4, and Penn State and Georgia round out the top five. 

Despite the win and the post-game celebration, Tennessee still dropped outside the top ten, while other top-ten teams also struggled against unranked opponents didn't drop at all.

Alabama, Penn State, and Georgia all struggled against unranked opponents but weren't punished in the rankings. Alabama survived South Carolina 27-25 at home, Penn State beat USC 33-30 in overtime, and Georgia beat the worst team in the SEC by ten points 41-31. 

Despite struggling to earn the win and looking pretty bad at times, all three either remained the same ranking or moved up in Penn State's case. Yet, despite struggling the same way as the other three teams, Tennessee drops nine spots. 

Tennessee did what it needed to do: get back into the win column. It wasn't pretty, but the defense carried the Vols to the win, continuing to look like one of the best defenses in the country. 

The Vols will have to go out and handle business to earn back the respect of the AP voters and beat Alabama when the Tide comes to town next weekend for the Third Saturday in October.