Tennessee Football’s 51-10 win over North Carolina State Saturday night in Charlotte, paired with Notre Dame’s home loss to Northern Illinois, moved the Vols into ESPN’s latest projection for the 12-team College Football Playoff field .
ESPN Senior Writer Heather Dinich has the Vols (2-0) as the No. 11 seed this week’s bracket, going on the road to face Lane Kiffin and No. 6 Ole Miss. The winner would face No. 3 Miami in the playoff’s quarterfinal round.
Tennessee had previously been listed among the first four teams out of the field by ESPN.
“This matchup would feature the committee’s third-best SEC team (Ole Miss) against its fifth and final SEC team in the ranking,” Dinich wrote . “With Notre Dame falling out of the bracket this week, the Vols were promoted after their win against NC State. Tennessee and Ole Miss don’t play each other during the regular season. The Vols do play at Georgia, though, on Nov. 16.
“In this scenario, if Tennessee were to win three straight playoff games, it could see the Bulldogs again in the national championship game. The committee doesn’t consider the possibility of rematches when voting for its Top 25.”
Up Next: No. 7 Tennessee vs. Kent State, 7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network
ESPN’s bracket this week had Georgia as the No. 1 seed, ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Miami and No. 4 Oklahoma State. The top four teams receive byes to the quarterfinals as champions of the four major conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC).
The first-round projections for on-campus games were No. 12 Northern Illinois at No. 5 Texas, No. 9 Penn State at No. 8 Oregon and No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 USC, along with No. 11 Tennessee going to No. 6 Ole Miss.
The first four teams out were Missouri, Kansas State, Utah and Clemson. The next four out were Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan and Boise State.
Vols moved into top 10 in Associated Press Top 25, Coaches Poll
Tennessee (2-0) moved up to No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll. The Vols host Kent State (0-2) on Saturday night in a 7:45 Eastern Time kickoff on SEC Network.
The Vols open SEC play at No. 16 Oklahoma on September 21 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and go to Arkansas on October 5, with a bye week on September 28. The SEC home schedule starts with Florida on October 12, then No. 4 Alabama on October 19. 2
Tennessee moved up two spots to No. 5 in ESPN’s updated Football Power Index . Texas is the new No. 1 in the FPI, ahead of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State.
The FPI now gives Tennessee a 65.3% chance to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, a 13.9% chance to make the national championship game and a 6.8% chance to win the national title.
ESPN’s updated game-by-game predictions also give the Vols a greater than 50% chance to win eight of its remaining 10 games, with the only projected losses coming at home against Alabama and at Georgia.
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