Week 13 College Football TV Schedule and Big Orange Rooting Guide

The Vols are now out of the race for the SEC East. So what's left to root for above the usual Vols' win? Bowl positioning and final national rankings. Tennessee now wants to win out, see as many SEC teams as possible fall below the Vols in the eyes of the bowl decision makers, and, mostly just for fun and bragging rights, see as many other teams ahead of them in the polls fall. We'll use the College Football Playoff Rankings as a stand-in for how bowl selection committees may view the Vols in their competition for the SEC bowl spots.

College Football Playoff Rankings

RK TEAM REC TREND LAST WEEK NEXT WEEK
1 Alabama 11-0 — vs Chattanooga W 31-3 11/26 vs #13 Auburn
2 Ohio State 10-1 — @ Michigan State W 17-16 11/26 vs #3 Michigan
3 Michigan 10-1 — vs Indiana W 20-10 11/26 @ #2 Ohio State
4 Clemson 10-1 — @ Wake Forest W 35-13 11/26 vs South Carolina
5 Washington 10-1 1 vs Arizona State W 44-18 11/25 @ #23 Washington State
6 Wisconsin 9-2 1 @ Purdue W 49-20 11/26 vs Minnesota
7 Penn State 9-2 1 @ Rutgers W 39-0 11/26 vs Michigan State
8 Oklahoma 9-2 1 @ #14 West Virginia W 56-28 —
9 Colorado 9-2 1 vs #22 Washington State W 38-24 11/26 vs #22 Utah
10 Oklahoma State 9-2 1 @ TCU W 31-6 —
11 Louisville 9-2 6 @ Houston L 36-10 11/26 vs Kentucky
12 USC 8-3 1 @ UCLA W 36-14 11/26 vs Notre Dame
13 Auburn 8-3 2 vs Alabama A&M W 55-0 11/26 @ #1 Alabama
14 Florida State 8-3 3 @ Syracuse W 45-14 11/26 vs #15 Florida
15 Florida 8-2 8 @ #16 LSU W 16-10 11/26 @ #14 Florida State
16 Nebraska 9-2 2 vs Maryland W 28-7 11/25 @ Iowa
17 Tennessee 8-3 2 vs Missouri W 63-37 11/26 @ Vanderbilt
18 West Virginia 8-2 4 vs #9 Oklahoma L 56-28 11/26 @ Iowa State
19 Boise State 10-1 1 vs UNLV W 42-25 11/25 @ Air Force
20 Houston 9-2 NR vs #5 Louisville W 36-10 11/25 @ Memphis
21 Western Michigan 11-0 — vs Buffalo W 38-0 11/25 vs Toledo
22 Utah 8-3 10 vs Oregon L 30-28 11/26 @ #9 Colorado
23 Washington State 8-3 1 @ #10 Colorado L 38-24 11/25 vs #5 Washington
24 Stanford 8-3 — @ California W 45-31 11/26 vs Rice
25 Navy 8-2 NR @ East Carolina W 66-31 11/26 @ SMU
Dropped from rankings: LSU 16, Texas A&M 25

So heading into this week, Tennessee is ranked #17, and the only non-Alabama SEC teams ranked higher are #15 Florida and #13 Auburn.

And with that, here is this week's TV schedule, curated for Vols fans:

Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016

With both of these teams having fallen out of the rankings this week and Tennessee all the way up at #17, it seems unlikely that any result would cause them to jump the Vols. So who should we root for? On one hand, LSU winning would give both A&M and LSU four losses, one more than Tennessee, which should be a safe result. On the other, it does some damage to Tennessee's strength of schedule. I think I am rooting for that result, though, because this A&M team is not the same one we played.

Friday, Nov. 25, 2016

Lots of good opportunities for upsets here.

Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016

The Noon Slate

The Ohio State/Michigan should be a good one, but won't matter much at all to Vols fans. Root for the upsets in the rest of the Big 10 games, but root for Alabama to take care of business in the Iron Bowl against Auburn so the Tigers will drop below the Vols.

The Afternoon Slate

Root for the Cyclones here to make room for the Vols at the expense of the Mountaineers.

The Evening Slate

Root for Tennessee, obviously, and then root for the underdogs except Florida.