Tennessee ranked No. 5 in latest College Football Playoff rankings

Tennessee didn’t suffer too much for dropping a game to Georgia over the weekend, only falling to No. 5 in the latest batch of the College Football Playoff rankings. The Volunteers were helped out in a big way by Clemson, who was blown out by Notre Dame, and Alabama, who lost in overtime to LSU.

Georgia moved up to No. 1, while Ohio State, Michigan and TCU followed, as expected.

Alabama tumbled down to No. 9 after their loss, while Clemson landed at No. 10. Both appear to be firmly out of the final four picture with just three weeks left to play.

LSU jumped up to No. 7, while Oregon settled in at No. 6. Both will have a big role going forward in Tennessee’s fate.

So the Vols sit fifth with three weeks to play, but (2) Ohio State and (3) Michigan still have to play. TCU gets Texas this week, then finishes at Baylor and then hosting Iowa State before a potential Big 12 title game. After watching them play all season long, it’s difficult to see them finishing the year off unblemished.

The Volunteers are still in a good spot, but they need to take care of Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt while leaving no doubt whatsoever. They now avoid Atlanta, but if they take care of business, they should still be in.

However, if LSU wins the SEC title — which is hard to imagine — things get mighty interesting, despite Tennessee blowing out the Tigers just one month ago.

Latest College Football Playoff Rankings

1. Georgia

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan

4. TCU

5. Tennessee

6. Oregon

7. LSU

8. USC

9. Alabama

10. Clemson

11. Ole Miss

12. UCLA

13. Utah

14. Penn State

15. North Carolina

16. NC State

17. Tulane

18. Texas

19. Kansas State

20. Notre Dame

21. Illinois

22. UCF

23. Florida State

24. Kentucky

25. Washington