Vols 9-seed in College Football Playoff, will play at 8-seed Ohio State

The Vols, who were seeded ninth in the official 12-team playoff bracket on Sunday, will play at 8-seed Ohio State at Ohio Stadium in Columbus in the first round on Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. ET (TV: ABC).

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Tennessee (10-2) all but clinched its playoff berth last week when it beat Vanderbilt in its regular season finale, 36-23 in Nashville to move up in the rankings, one spot behind the Buckeyes where they remained after conference championship games were decided on Saturday.

"We don’t have a game before the final rankings come out," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said last week. "There’s a lot of football to be played yet. But if you’re not of the mindset going into this thing, anyone, anywhere, anytime, then you’re just there to have a cup of coffee anyway. So, this is a highly-competitive group. We’ll play where we play. We’ll play who we play. Let’s go put the ball down.”

The Vols needed some help late in the regular season after losing to unranked Arkansas on the road, 19-14 back in October and at then-No. 12 Georgia last month, which put them on the outside looking in heading into the last two weeks of the season.

A number of two-loss SEC teams ranked ahead of Tennessee tumbled, including Ole Miss and Alabama to put the Vols firmly back in the playoff picture.

Ohio State (10-2) lost to Michigan, 13-10 in their final game of the regular season one week ago, missing out on the Big Ten Championship Game.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Where Tennessee football stands in latest AP Top 25

The Buckeyes' other loss was against Oregon on the road by one point on the road back in September.

The winner between Tennessee and Ohio State will move on to the quarterfinals to play Big Ten champion and 1-seed Oregon (13-0) in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year's Day.

The Vols and Buckeyes are meeting for just the second time. The two teams last played each other in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on Jan. 1, 1996. Tennessee won that game, 20-14 to complete an 11-win season.

What does final College Football Playoff bracket look like?

The top four seeds, all conference champions, 1-seed Oregon, 2-seed Georgia, 3-seed Boise State and 4-seed Arizona State received first round byes while 5-seed Texas will host 12-seed Clemson in the first round.

The 6-seed Penn State and 7-seed Notre Dame will also host first round games against 11-seed SMU and 10-seed Indiana, respectively.

Quarterfinal games are set for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, 2025 with the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowl as host sites.

The semifinals will be played in the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl on Jan. 9-10, 2025 with the national championship game set for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

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