Tennessee football three spots behind Alabama in updated FPI Rankings

Tennessee football is coming off back-to-back wins over rivals Florida and Alabama. The Vols didn't need overtime this week to beat the Crimson Tide thanks to a dominant defensive performance and the offense coming in clutch in the second half. 

Tennessee's defense held Alabama's offense to its two lowest-scoring halves of the season: seven points in the first half and ten points in the second half. 

The Vols' offense was able to figure things out and outscored Alabama in the second half. Nico Iamaleava missed some throws, and his receivers dropped some passes that could have opened the game but didn't hit them until later in the second half. 

If Nico connected with his receivers on some of those throws and protected the football, they could have opened up the game in the first half. 

Despite the win, which seemed like Tennessee was in control throughout most of the game, Tennessee is still three spots behind ESPN's Football Power Index Rankings. ESPN's updated rankings have Alabama at No. 3, ahead of Georgia at No. 4 and Tennessee at No. 6.

Ohio State returns to No. 1, but the SEC holds the next five spots, with Texas at No. 2, then Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Tennessee in spots three through six. Notable teams outside the top ten are Indiana, LSU, Clemson, and Texas A&M. All of them probably shouldn't be inside the top ten, but it should be concerning that ESPN kept out all of them. 

Tennessee heads into its BYE week with a week off to prepare for its final stretch of SEC play, which will begin with Kentucky. The Wildcats are reeling and will look for a big win against Tennessee to keep their season alive.