If there is one thing the College Football Playoff committee is known for, it’s taking previous years into account in an attempt to avoid bad matchups. That, fair or not, could cost Tennessee if the Vols are on the bubble trying to reach the event in 2025.
One of the biggest reasons the Florida State Seminoles were left out of the 2023-24 CFP despite going undefeated was what happened the year before. The Georgia Bulldogs won the 2022-23 national title by beating the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7. It was really bad for TV.
FSU wasn’t TCU, but they were clearly not in the league of the Alabama Crimson Tide or Michigan Wolverines that year and would not be able to hang with them. Once they lost quarterback Jordan Travis, it seemed all but likely they would suffer a similar fate, so they committee avoided them.
UT could be in for the same thing. After all the talk about taking over Columbus and Vol fans packing the stadium, they lost 42-17 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Sure, OSU was the eventual national champion, but this was the 8 vs. 9 matchup, the one everybody hung their hat on would be a good game in the first round. It wasn’t.
That level of a blow to the TV networks is bad enough, but then you had a re-evaluation of the Vols’ season. Their best win was over an Alabama team that finished 9-4 and didn’t even make the CFP, and they suffered a bad loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks while not really hanging with Georgia in the second half.
Simply put, it called into question the quality of the entire program under Josh Heupel.
Now, as we mentioned, OSU blew through everybody in the CFP. Tennessee was the one team to face them on the road, and the Vols lost their best player, star running back Dylan Sampson, after the first drive. That level of perspective should matter.
It won’t with this committee.
When you take into account the combination of Tennessee’s blowout loss, their questionable resume and the fact that their offense hasn’t come close to its 2022 level of excitement since that year, at least against elite teams, the Vols will turn some eyes away. As a result, they could have an uphill battle to reach the CFP in 2025. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is.
