Where Tennessee ranks in fourth College Football Playoff poll: See full list

Posted by Admin November 27, 2024 Football

Tennessee football jumped back into the 12-team bracket in the latest College Football Playoff rankings as it heads into the final game of the regular season against Vanderbilt.

Tennessee is ranked No. 8 in the fourth CFP poll, released on Tuesday night. That’s equivalent to a No. 9 seed because a lower-ranked conference champion gets an automatic first-round bye.

If these playoff rankings were final, the Vols would play at Georgia in a first-round game. However, the bracket will change twice more, so stay tuned. The rankings will be updated on Dec. 3, and the final CFP field will be announced on Dec. 8 following the conference championship games.

Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC) plays Vanderbilt (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday (noon ET, ABC) at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville. It appears that a win would put the Vols in the playoff and a loss would keep them out.

The CFP selection committee ranks the Top 25 teams each week for the new 12-team playoff format.

There are five guaranteed spots (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC champions, plus highest-ranked non P4 conference champion). And then seven teams get at-large bids, based on their ranking in the CFP poll. The four highest ranked conference champions get a first-round bye.

Tennessee ranked No. 7 in the first and second weeks of the CFP poll and No. 11 in the third week. The Vols have a bad loss to Arkansas and a quality win over Alabama on their resume. They moved up this week after top-10 teams Ole Miss, Alabama and Indiana lost last week.

Tennessee is ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 and No. 8 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.

Here is the updated CFP poll.

College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings

Oregon (11-0)
Ohio State (10-1)
Texas (10-1)
Penn State (10-1)
Notre Dame (10-1)
Miami (10-1)
Georgia (9-2)
Tennessee (9-2)
SMU (10-1)
Indiana (10-1)
Boise State (10-1)
Clemson (9-2)
Alabama (8-3)
Ole Miss (8-3)
South Carolina (8-3)
Arizona State (9-2)
Tulane (9-2)
Iowa State (9-2)
BYU (9-2)
Texas A&M (8-3)
Missouri (8-3)
UNLV (9-2)
Illinois (8-3)
Kansas State (8-3)
Colorado (8-3)

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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