ESPN Bubble Watch: Where Tennessee Football is seeded in the College Football Playoff
ESPN had Tennessee Football at No. 3 while projecting the current top 12 teams for the College Football Playoff earlier this week. But that doesn’t mean the Vols would be the No. 3 seed in the playoff bracket.
Instead, ESPN had Tennessee slotted as the No. 6 seed, hosting No. 11 Missouri in the first round. Texas, Ohio State, Miami and Utah were the top four seeds, respectively, as projected conference championships in the power four conferences.
“This is another example of how the seeding will look different from the ranking,” ESPN’s Heather Dinich wrote, “as Tennessee was the committee’s No. 3 team in the country. Because seeds 1-4 are reserved for conference champs, and No. 5 went to SEC runner-up Georgia, this is as high as Tennessee could be seeded.
“The Vols would still earn a first-round home game against another SEC team they didn’t face during the regular season.”
Five SEC teams in ESPN’s current College Football Playoff bracket
Other first-round matchups in the playoff projection were No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Georgia, No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oregon and No. 10 Penn State at No. 7 Ole Miss.
The first four teams out of the field were Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan and USC. The next four out were LSU, Iowa State, Illinois and Indiana.
Dropped from ESPN’s playoff bubble were Northern Illinois, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
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The Vols moved up to No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 and to No. 6 in the Coaches Poll on Sunday afternoon, their highest rankings since the 2022 season.
Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee at Arkansas
Tennessee (4-0), coming off the 25-15 win at Oklahoma to start SEC play, is off this week before going back one the road at Arkansas next Saturday.
Dinich ranked Tennessee at No. 3 on Saturday night, with the Vols trailing on No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Georgia while coming in just ahead of No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Ole Miss. Alabama was ranked No. 8.
The Vols host Alabama on October 19 at Neyland Stadium and go to Georgia on November 16.
“(Oklahoma) was an important win for the Vols because they still have to face both Alabama and Georgia this season — their two most difficult remaining games,” Dinich wrote. “If Tennessee goes 0-2 against them, they need to hope the selection committee ranks Oklahoma because the season-opening win against NC State has already been devalued and there aren’t any other opportunities against ranked opponents.”
