Bowl Projections: Tennessee trending toward bowl games, away from College Football Playoff

Tennessee Football has been dropped from most College Football Playoff projections after splitting games over the last two weeks at Arkansas and at home against Florida. The Vols on Saturday night were shut out in the first half for the second straight game and had to rally from down 10 points to beat the Gators 23-17 in overtime.

College Football News still has Tennessee in the 12-team bracket in its updated College Football Playoff prediction, with the Vols as a No. 10 seed going to No. 7 Notre Dame.

ESPN, The Action Network, Athlon Sports and CBS Sports all have Tennessee headed to a bowl game.

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Alabama, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Both The Action Network and Athlon have the Vols headed to the ReliaQuest Bowl to face Nebraska. The Action Network had the Vols as an eight-point favorite in the potential bowl matchup.

CBS Sports had Tennessee facing SMU in the Gator Bowl while ESPN’s two predictions had Tennessee going to both the Reliaquest Bowl and the TaxSlayer Bowl.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach had the Vols in Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl against Indiana and Kyle Bonagura had Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl against Louisville.

Last week Schlabach still had Tennessee as a playoff team after the Arkansas loss, seeded 10th in the 12-team field. Bonagura moved the Vols out of his bracket.

Schlabach had Tennessee going to No. 7 Penn State in the first round, with Penn State advancing to face No. 2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinal round. Bonagura, meanwhile, has the Vols facing Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

No. 11 Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC) hosts No. 7 Alabama (5-1, 2-1) on Saturday afternoon (3:30 Eastern Time, ABC).

Alabama a 2.5-point road favorite at Tennessee

The Vols are currently a 2.5-point home underdog this week against Alabama. They opened as a 17.5-point underdog at Georgia in early lines released in the spring, with the line updating to Tennessee +8.5 in September.

Tennessee has a bye week after hosting the Crimson Tide, then have Kentucky and Mississippi State in back-to-back home games after the open date.

The regular-season schedule closes with a showdown at Georgia on November 16, the home finale against UTEP on November 23 and the final regular-season game at Vanderbilt on November 30.

Tennessee is ranked No. 7 in ESPN’s updated Football Power Index and No. 9 in ESPN’s SP+ . The Vols have a 46% chance to make the playoff — the 12th-highest chance — according to ESPN’s Playoff Predictor .

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