Tennessee's Saturday night loss to Georgia was the Vols' second loss of the season. Tennessee is now one of five SEC teams with two losses on the year, including Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss.
If all five teams finish the season without dropping another game, they likely deserve to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, but someone will be left out and won't be invited to the dance.
The national media, talking heads, and the CFP selection committee have been building a case against Tennessee leading up to the Georgia game. "A two-loss Tennessee team wouldn't have the resume to make the playoff," they argued all week, assuming Tennessee would lose.
Tennessee did lose, and that means it's time to make the case for Tennessee making the CFP with two losses because, despite the attempt to say Tennessee's wins aren't good enough, the Vols have proven they are a top-ten team this year.
The national media's argument this past week for Tennessee not making the College Football Playoff is that the Vols are not a good team. Yet, Alabama's loss to Tennessee was a great loss, and Georgia's win over Tennessee was a great win.
The committee can't have it both ways, so despite their claims that Tennessee isn't a good team, the Vols still have wins over No. 7 Alabama, No. 24 North Carolina State, and No. 15 Oklahoma. It's not Tennessee's fault that NC State and Oklahoma's seasons derailed after Tennessee's win, and they haven't held up their bargain.
Pair that with Tennessee having the third-toughest strength of schedule among CFP contenders, and Tennessee has the best case of any two-loss SEC team to make the playoff.
Tennessee's strength of schedule ranks it 18th in the country, behind only two other CFP contenders: Georgia (No. 1) and Alabama (No. 16). Tennessee beat Alabama head-to-head, so the Vols deserve to have a leg up on the Tide in the rankings if the committee uses common sense and doesn't fall into the Bama bias.
The committee will likely decide on two or three of the following teams: Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. To put it simply, Georgia should be in with Tennessee, Alabama, and Ole Miss, but Tennessee has a better resume than everyone except Georgia.
Tennessee's win over Alabama is better than any win on the Crimson Tide's schedule. It matches Ole Miss's win over Georgia and Texas A&M's win over LSU. Tennessee's loss at Arkansas isn't as bad of a loss as Alabama's loss to Vanderbilt, Ole Miss's loss to Kentucky, or A&M's blowout loss to South Carolina.
I don't write this to disparage any other SEC team, but it's impossible to have the first 12-team College Football Playoff and exclude a 10-2 Tennessee football team. Tennessee's defense has been one of the best in the country, and its offense has the potential to catch fire at any point.
The Vols have two high-quality losses, a big win over top-25-ranked NC State and Oklahoma, and a top-ten Alabama team, which should be a big enough boost to their resume to get Tennessee into the dance.
It's hard to argue that any of those teams won't make the playoff, especially if A&M beats Texas at the end of the season, but one or two teams will likely be left out. If that's the case, Tennessee should be the third SEC team in the dance behind Texas and Georgia.