Josh Heupel's pitch to the College Football Playoff selection committee: 'We're a good football team'
Josh Heupel doesn’t know where Tennessee stands in the College Football Playoff picture after the 31-17 loss to Georgia Saturday night at Sanford Stadium. All he knows is what the Vols have been through.
“I have no idea, man,” Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “All I know is this league is college football as good as it gets. It is. Teams get beat on the road sometimes. It’s hard to win, man, in this league.”
Tennessee (8-2, 5-2 SEC) lost 19-14 at Arkansas on October 5, but bounced back with four straight home wins — Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi State — before the loss at Georgia (8-2, 5-2).
‘(Georgia is) a good football team. We’re a good football team, too.’
“It’s a good football team that we just played,” Heupel said of Georgia. “(They’ve) lost a couple of close ones on the road against good football teams. Had turnovers in (those) game. (Georgia is) a good football team. We’re a good football team, too.”
Tennessee hosts UTEP on Saturday (1 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network+) on Senior Day at Neyland Stadium then goes to Vanderbilt on November 30 to close the regular-season schedule.
“Let it soak in,” Heupel said of the Georgia loss. “Let it hurt. Watch it. Grow from it. Get a next opportunity. You got two more guaranteed, but the only one that matters is next week. So this group will continue to go.
“We don’t control what we don’t control. We control our preparation. We can control how we get ourselves ready to go play next Saturday. Got a good football team in that locker room, man. It’s a good football team. Got to coach a little better. We got to play a little better.”
Tennessee was ranked No. 7 by the College Football Playoff selection committee in the updated rankings released Tuesday night. The Vols were seeded eighth in the 12-team bracket.
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It was the same spot Tennessee was ranked in the first release a week earlier. The Vols were jumped in the second rankings by Indiana and BYU.
ESPN has Tennessee as first team out of College Football Playoff bracket
ESPN’s Heather Dinich ranked Tennessee No. 11 Saturday night in her playoff rankings projections. The Vols were on the outside looking in at the bracket, though, with Boise State seeded ahead of them as the highest-ranked projected conference champion from the Group of Five.
Georgia was the first team out of the bracket on Tuesday, following a 28-10 loss on the road at Ole Miss last week. ESPN had Georgia at No. 10 in the projected rankings Saturday night.
Smart described the rankings as a week-by-week eye test for the selection committee. He also repeated what Heupel said — it’s hard to win games in the SEC.
“We’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team,” he said, “and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches. We as coaches look at people and say, what can we do better? How do we get better? I respect their decision. I respect their opinion but it’s different in our league.”
