Tennessee climbs College Football Playoff rankings but Vols are behind Alabama

Adam Sparks, Knoxville News Sentinel
·2 min read
10

Tennessee football climbed to No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but it's still behind No. 6 Alabama.

The rest of the Top 10 includes No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 USC, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Clemson and No. 10 Kansas State.

The final CFP rankings will be released on Sunday (noon ET) on ESPN. That will determine which teams go to the playoffs and New Year’s Six bowls.

VOLS BOWL WATCHShould Tennessee football want Orange Bowl over Sugar Bowl? It's not an easy call

If LSU upsets Georgia in the SEC title game, it will get the automatic bid to the Sugar Bowl. Otherwise, the highest ranked SEC team not in the playoffs goes to the Sugar Bowl, presumably Alabama or Tennessee.

The Sugar Bowl will be played at noon on Dec. 31 in New Orleans. The SEC team will face the Big 12 champion or the highest ranked Big 12 team not in the playoffs. For now, that’s Kansas State because TCU will go to the playoffs if it wins the Big 12 title.

After that, the Orange Bowl gets the highest ranked team among the SEC, Big Ten and Notre Dame. That would be Tennessee if it remains behind Alabama and ahead of Penn State.

And the other slot will be filled by the highest ranked ACC team not in the playoff. That would be the winner of the ACC title game between Clemson and North Carolina. The Orange Bowl will be played at 7:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. on Dec. 30 in Miami.

The Cotton Bowl gets the final team among the New Year’s Six bowls, and it will be played at 1 p.m. on Jan. 2 in Arlington, Texas. It gets an at-large pick to play against a Group of Five team, presumably the winner of the American Athletic Conference championship game between Tulane and UCF.

College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings

1. Georgia

2. Michigan

3. TCU

4. USC

5. Ohio State

6. Alabama

7. Tennessee

8. Penn State

9. Clemson

10. Kansas State

11. Utah

12. Washington

13. Florida State

14. LSU

15. Oregon State

16. Oregon

17. UCLA

18. Tulane

19. South Carolina

20. Texas

21. Notre Dame

22. UCF

23. North Carolina

24. Mississippi State

25. North Carolina State

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee climbs College Football Playoff rankings but behind Alabama