College Football Playoff Rankings: Tennessee up to No. 7 to end regular season

As expected.

By Terry A. Lambert@TLambertTN Nov 29, 2022, 7:16pm EST

Tennessee climbed back up to No. 7 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. The Volunteers bounced back from that ugly loss at South Carolina, beating Vanderbilt 56-0 on Saturday night in Nashville.

Does Tennessee have a chance to make the CFP? No, frankly. It would take ugly losses from TCU and USC to even have a chance, and the committee would clearly put Ohio State in ahead of both Tennessee and Alabama.

Moving on.

By now, we’ve all heard the arguments for Tennessee to be ranked ahead of Alabama. I mean, they did beat them, after all. They also blew out LSU in Baton Rouge. However, that ugly loss in Columbia has to weigh on the Volunteers, along with the Hendon Hooker injury, no matter what the committee says.

Alabama at No. 6 likely puts them in the Sugar Bowl, while Tennessee at No. 7 likely lands them in the Orange Bowl. We’ll find out for sure on Sunday.

Everything seems set at the top, outside of USC. The Trojans have to beat Utah, who they lost to earlier this season. Georgia, Michigan and TCU seem like locks at this point.