The first College Football Playoff rankings for 2024 are out.
Tennessee, which opened the final month of the regular season with a 28-18 win over Kentucky last Saturday, debuted at No. 7 in the rankings selected by the playoff selection committee on Tuesday.
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The Vols (7-1, 4-1 SEC), as of now, are firmly inside of the newly expanded 12-team playoff field, which will not be official until after conference championships are played in December.
Tennessee has been included in each of the last three initial playoff rankings under fourth-year head coach Josh Heupel. The Vols were No. 1 in the first release in 2022 and No. 17 last season.
The lone blemish on Tennessee's record was a 19-14 loss at Arkansas one month ago, but the Vols have responded to that defeat with three-straight wins over Florida, Alabama and Kentucky. Their resume also includes a neutral site win over NC State and a road triumph over Oklahoma in September. Both teams were ranked at the time of the match ups, but have since fallen out of the polls.
Tennessee has a few more opportunities to bolster its resume over the next four games with games against Georgia in two weeks and Vanderbilt in its regular season finale. Both games are on the road.
The Vols host Mississippi State (2-5, 0-5) on Saturday at Neyland Stadium (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
"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."
College Football Playoff Top 12
1. Oregon (9-0)
2. Ohio State (7-1)
3. Georgia (7-1)
4. Miami (9-0)
5. Texas (7-1)
6. Penn State (7-1)
7. Tennessee (7-1)
8. Indiana (9-0)
9. BYU (8-0)
10. Notre Dame (7-1)
11. Alabama (6-2)
12. Boise State (7-1)
What would playoff bracket, match up look like?
The playoff will expand to 12 teams for the first time this season.
The new format will include the five conference champions that are the highest ranked in the final playoff rankings and then the next seven highest ranked teams. The top four teams are guaranteed a first round bye.
The 5-8 seeds will host on campus games on Dec. 20-21 with the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl hosting the four quarterfinal games on Dec.31-Jan.1. The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will be semifinal games on Jan. 9-10.
The national championship game is slated for Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
If the playoffs were played based on the first round of rankings, Tennessee would be the No. 8 seed due to a new rule that would put No. 9 BYU, the current leader in the Big 12, as the No. 4 team.
As a top-8 seed, the Vols would host No. 9 seed and current unbeaten Indiana at Neyland Stadium in the first round. Tennessee would then face No. 1 seed Oregon in the quarterfinals.
The Vols have a chance to improve their standing. The most assured path to staying in the top 12 would be winning out with Mississippi State, UTEP, Georgia and Vanderbilt left. There is an outside chance Tennessee could work its way into the top four and punch its ticket to an automatic quarterfinal bid, but it would need help elsewhere in college football for that to happen.
The second rankings will be released Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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