If Josh Heupel and his Tennessee players are thinking about the release of the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, they're doing a good job of acting disinterested.

The No. 7 Vols will be included in the top 12 when the rankings debut at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN). Their resume to date includes one loss at Arkansas and wins over Alabama and Florida. Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC) won its third-straight game against Kentucky last week--the same Saturday that several one or two loss teams vying for a playoff spot were defeated.

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That is good for the Vols' aspirations, but a little more than 24 hours out, Heupel didn't have much to say about it.

"Playoff rankings at this point don't matter. You don't have control over it," Heupel said on Monday. "What you have control over is your preparation and how you play. And ultimately, that determines where you're at or where you're not at. For this football team understanding that we got to continue to grow and get better and control those things that we're in control of. This team's got to continue to get better. It will be out on Tuesday night.

"You remember what the first rankings were last year? I don't either. So it doesn't matter. What they remember is where you finish here as November wraps up."

Tennessee's preparation right now is for Mississippi State (2-7, 0-5). The Vols host the struggling Bulldogs on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), looking to improve their offense before going on the road to No. 2 Georgia in a game that could potentially decide both a spot in the SEC Championship Game and the playoff.

As of now, Tennessee is firmly in the postseason picture. Its lone defeat at Arkansas was more than a month ago and the Vols have managed to overcome some deficiencies to remain in the playoff race.

The biggest among those issues have been slow starts on offense. Tennessee has scored just seven first half points in its last four games, enough to cost it a loss that leaves it with a thin margin for error.

"We do have to play cleaner football. I told the guys (Monday), like, don't focus on what the result in the first half you want," Heupel said. "We want to start fast obviously, but focus on the details of your job and that comes every day in our practices, our meetings, walk through all of it being tied in together. We need to, we want to start a lot faster than we have here in the last few weeks. So we're capable of it. We've got to take advantage of things and do the simple things at a high level in particular down in the red zone.

"We've had turnovers, we've gotten behind the chains, things that we control and got to be better."

Tennessee has the defense to carry it into the playoff. That has at least been the case through eight games.

The Vols rank at or near the top of nearly every statistical defensive category. The group came up with turnovers in key moments of one-score victories against Alabama and Florida and three against in a 10-point win vs. Kentucky.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Josh Heupel said before Tennessee plays Mississippi State

That could be enough for Tennessee, but still too much of a risk to rely completely on. An offense that takes less than two quarters to get going would make the Vols complete, but they have limited opportunities to make that happen.

Winning out is the most sure path for Tennessee over the last four games, which includes No. 24 Vanderbilt. One loss in that stretch puts it out of the Vols' control.

"I think our biggest focus for coach Heupel and coaching staff on down is just taking it one game at a time," tight end Holden Staes said. "Coming down to this stretch of the season, it's just a one-week season at this point. We've talked about us being in control of our destiny.

"But in terms of the big picture, College Football Playoff, we know down the road that will come if we do our job and take it one game at a time each week."

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