Tennessee opened the final month of the regular season the same way that has gotten it to this point.

The Vols overcame another sluggish offensive start, showed life in the second half thanks to an opportunistic defense and beat Kentucky, 28-18 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

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The win, which keeps Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC) firmly in the College Football Playoff picture ahead of its final stretch of the season, did not result in any movement for the Vols in one poll, though.

Tennessee remained at No. 7 for the third-straight week in the Associated Press Top 25 for week 11 on Sunday, two days before the initial playoff rankings are released.

The Vols were again the third highest ranked team from the SEC. Georgia stayed at No. 2 after pulling away late from Florida and Texas moved up one spot to No. 5 following a bye week.

Alabama, which was also idle on Saturday, inched closer to the top 10, climbing three spots to No. 11 while both LSU and Ole Miss moved up to No. 14 and No. 16, respectively.

Texas A&M tumbled five spots to No. 17 after its road loss at South Carolina.

Vanderbilt jumped back into the rankings at No. 24 in the wake of its road win at Auburn.

As of now, Tennessee has two ranked teams remaining on its schedule with Georgia and Vanderbilt coming up later this month—both on the road.

The Vols host Mississippi State (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) to complete a four-game homestand on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

The Bulldogs (2-7, 0-5) are coming off of a 45-20 win over UMass.

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