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Heather Dinich believes College Football Playoff picture starts with Tennessee

by:Austin Brezina•11/08/22•

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(Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

ESPN analyst Heather Dinich shared her interpretation of the latest College Football Playoff rankings, highlighting Tennessee above Oregon. Tennessee came in ranked fifth in the nation following their tough loss to Georgia, placing them just outside of the CFP picture. However, Dinich claimed that the position is still perfectly fine for the Volunteers with the remainder of the season poised to shake out in their favor.

Heather Dinich says Tennessee is set well for CFP

“It starts with Tennessee and they are still in a position to finish in the top four,” said Dinich. “They’re actually right where you wanna be on the bubble, because you know somebody above them is going to lose because Ohio State and Michigan play each other. Tennessee still has two of the best wins in the country against Alabama and LSU and it’s important they’re above Oregon. Because if Oregon finishes as a one-loss Pac-12 champ and Tennessee is sitting there at 11-1, right now we know the committee thinks that Tennessee is a better team. We’ll see if a conference championship could change that in the end.”

Dinich’s comments on Tennessee seem to be an accurate breakdown of how the committee views Tennessee after their loss to Georgia. Although Oregon has looked excellent since being blown out by Georgia to start the season, Tennessee’s strong wins appears to be the reason why they’re ranked above the Ducks.

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Although being in fifth currently would mean they’re on the outside looking in at the CFP, Ohio State and Michigan are on a collision course for the Big Ten Championship. With one of the two teams guaranteed a loss at some point, Tennessee would no longer be behind four undefeated teams if they all win out. Also boosting Tennessee’s chances — a dominant showing against newly ranked No. 7 LSU earlier this year. Although LSU has begun to make a case for themselves belonging in the CFP picture as a two-loss team, Dinich and others like Greg McElroy believe that Tennessee with one loss will weigh heavily over the possibility of LSU being SEC champions.