Two AP Top 25 voters have the Tennessee Vols ranked lower than anyone else

A couple of AP Top 25 voters have the Tennessee Vols ranked lower than anyone else and it's part of the reason why UT fell out of the top 10 this week despite their rivalry game win against the Florida Gators.

Tennessee entered last week's action ranked No. 8 after their loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

After beating Florida 23-17 on Saturday night, the Vols fell to No. 11.

Tennessee was passed in the rankings by LSU, Iowa State, and Clemson.

Alabama, which lost to Vanderbilt the same day that Tennessee lost to Arkansas, stayed at No. 7 even though they won by just two points in Tuscaloosa against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Athletic's Matt Brown and New Jersey Advance Media's Brian Fonseca both have the Vols at No. 16 on their AP Top 25 ballots.

CBS Austin's Bob Ballou has Tennessee at No. 15 on his ballot.

Tennessee is at No. 11 in the AP Top 25 with 959 points. Clemson is at No. 10 with 980 points.

The AP Top 25 doesn't mean much outside of perception. For whatever reason, we've decided that letting beat writers, many of whom focus on just one game each Saturday, rank the top teams in the nation is a good idea. It's truly silly. Most fans have a better grasp on how the top 25 should look than than on-site beat writers. But it's the system that's been in place for a long time. And for now, it's not going anywhere.

It's still baffling, though, how Tennessee can drop in the rankings after winning a rivalry game that they've rarely won in the last two decades.

A win is a win regardless of how it looks. Style points shouldn't be a thing. If Tennessee hits on a couple of deep passes and they win by 14 points agains Florida, do they still fall in the AP Top 25?

Probably not. But that just shows you how out of touch some of the AP voters are. Each game has its own identity. Each game plays out in its own unique way.  And when it comes to SEC conference games, all that really matters is whether you win or not.

The Vols got penalized for winning a rivalry game. Alabama didn't get penalized for barely beating South Carolina. If there's any doubt left that there's some weird bias against the Vols, it was erased this past weekend.

Related: Vols fans need to appreciate what Josh Heupel is doing at Tennessee before it's too late