Josh Heupel on Tennessee's College Football Playoff mindset: 'Anyone, anywhere, anytime'
Josh Heupel is ready to take his Tennessee Football team wherever he has to in the College Football Playoff. According to the head coach, that’s the only way you can approach the new 12-team postseason.
The Vols on Tuesday night were ranked No. 7 in the College Football Playoff Top 25 and seeded ninth in the selection committee’s updated bracket. Ohio State was ranked No. 6 following its 13-10 home loss to unranked Michigan on Saturday, dropping the Buckeyes to the eighth seed.
That means Tennessee going to Ohio State in the current bracket projection, with the Buckeyes getting the final host spot in the first round and leaving the Vols as the highest-seeded team in the bracket going on the road.
“There’s a lot of football to be played yet,” Heupel said during his National Signing Day press conference on Monday. “But if you’re not of the mindset going into this thing, anyone, anywhere, anytime, then you’re just there to have a cup of coffee anyway.
Tuesday night was the final rankings update before the official bracket is announced at Noon Eastern Time on Sunday, following conference championship games on Saturday.
Texas plays Georgia in the SEC Championship, Penn State plays Oregon in the Big Ten championship and Clemson plays SMU in the ACC title game.
Rankings and seedings could change based on the outcome of Championship Saturday, with at least one team currently ranked ahead of Tennessee needing to drop below the Vols to bring a College Football Playoff game to Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee solidified its spot in the field with the 36-23 win at Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon, completing a 10-2 regular season. The Vols stayed as the No. 9 seed in the bracket, where last week they were projected to face then-No. 8 Georgia.
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This week the top four seeds in the bracket were Oregon, Texas, SMU and Boise State, respectively, projected to be the four highest-ranked conference champions.
The other first-round matchups were No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Penn State, No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Georgia.
The Tennessee-Ohio State winner would advance to face No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinal round on New Year’s Day.
“We control what we control, right?” Heupel said. “We don’t have a game before the final rankings come out.”
“… This is a highly competitive group. We’ll play where we play. We’ll play who we play, and it’s going to be put the ball down (and play).”
