What Warde Manuel said about Ohio State being ahead of Tennessee in latest College Football Playoff Rankings
Tennessee football checked in at No. 7 in the fifth edition of the College Football Payoff Rankings that were unveiled on ESPN Tuesday night.
The playoff field will be officially set with the final rankings of the College Football Playoffs Top-25 released on Sunday following conference championship weekend.
Despite being ranked No. 7, the Vols are seeded No. 9 and would be on the road at 8-seed Ohio State in the first round of the playoffs, set to take place the weekend of Dec 20-21, under this projection.
“They have very similar resumes. Ohio State is 2-1 against top-10 teams,” CFP committee chair Warde Manuel said Tuesday to the media pool when comparing Ohio State to Tennessee. “They have the win over Indiana and the win over Penn State. One of their two losses is to the No. 1 team in the country and obviously the loss to Michigan last week.”
Tennessee is ranked No. 7 but seeded No. 9 and would be on the road at Ohio State in the first round of the #CFBPlayoff.
— Volquest Staff (@Volquest_On3) December 4, 2024
One final rankings to go before it all begins.https://t.co/dFheLklmJl pic.twitter.com/0eXpUj3plL
The rankings Tuesday night started with Oregon, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame in the top-four while Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee and SMU followed suit in slots No. 5-8. Indiana was ranked ninth, Boise State 10th with Alabama and Miami rounding out the top-12.
“And Tennessee also has had an impressive resume. They’ve have two losses against Arkansas and no. 5 Georgia,” Manuel continued when asked about the Buckeyes over the Vols. “They are very close. It was a constant conversation as to how we saw both teams. A lot of deliberation on them. It was a lot of conversation and the outcome of the vote had Ohio Sate ahead of Tennessee.”
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Due to the four-highest ranked conference champions receiving an automatic BYE into the semifinal quarterfinal round – and with independent Notre Dame only able to be as high as a fifth-seed – the Vols would drop two seed spots and be on the road in the first round.
The four-highest projected conference champions in this week’s bracket include No 1 Oregon (Big 10), No. 2 Texas (SEC), SMU (ACC) and Boise State (Mountain West). Penn State is the fifth seed, Notre Dame the sixth seed while Georgia and Ohio State are the seventh and eighth seeds. Seeds 5-8 would receive home playoff games in the first round.
9-Seed Tennessee would be on the road at Ohio State. 10-seed Indiana would travel to Georgia. 11-seed Alabama would play at Notre Dame and the projected Big 12 winner and 12-seed Arizona State would be on the road at Penn State.
