The first College Football Playoff rankings are almost here, and Tennessee is expected to be on the outside looking in.
That’s the reality after the Vols stumbled on the road against South Carolina before the bye week. Tennessee enters Week 10 at 6-2, and the picture would look a whole lot different if that trip had gone the other way.
Instead, the focus now turns to a huge matchup with No. 8 Kentucky, a game that could decide whether the Vols stay alive in the playoff race.
In this prediction of the initial 2026 CFP rankings, the top 12 looks like this: Miami, Georgia, Utah, BYU, Notre Dame, UCLA, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, Wake Forest and Boise State.
One notable omission is Ohio State. In this projection, Alabama gets the No. 10 spot instead after what happened in Week 9 against USC. The reasoning here is tied to the status of the Buckeyes’ offense, with Julian Sayin potentially out for the season and Jeremiah Smith already dealing with Luke Fahey at quarterback.
As for the SEC, Georgia, Kentucky, Texas and Alabama are the league teams projected to land in the opening rankings. Tennessee, though, is slotted at No. 16 in this forecast, which would leave the Vols just short of the cut line.
That’s a frustrating spot, especially considering how different things might look if Tennessee had handled business against South Carolina. A win there would have put the Vols in position to sit around No. 8 or No. 9 instead.
Now the margin for error is gone. Kentucky comes next, and a win would keep Tennessee’s College Football Playoff hopes intact. It would also give the Vols a second victory over a Top 10 team this season, joining the win over Alabama.
A loss, on the other hand, would end the discussion.
Tennessee faithful don’t want a repeat of last winter’s Music City Bowl, and Josh Heupel’s team knows what’s at stake as it moves through the final stretch. The Vols are set to face Texas A&M, LSU and Vanderbilt after Kentucky, but everything right now is centered on the Wildcats and Will Stein.
The expectation is that Tennessee will enter that game as the favorite, with the chance to keep its season pointed toward the CFP. But once those rankings are released, there will be disappointment in Knoxville. What happens next is up to the Vols, who need to stack wins and play nearly flawless football if they want to stay in the hunt.
In Other News...
LSU's Ranking Suddenly Carries More Weight Before A Massive Showdown
A wild weekend across the AP Top 25 is set to ripple through the rest of the college football calendar, and Tennessee has plenty of reason to pay attention. Seven ranked teams went down, with Ohio States loss to USC carrying especially heavy playoff implications, while USC, New Mexico, South Carolina and Iowa all stand to climb when the new poll comes out. For teams like Tennessee, the chaos at the top only adds more meaning to every ranking shift, especially with conference races and postseason positioning tightening up.
LSU now finds itself in a more consequential spot ahead of a massive showdown, because the Tigers standing will be judged against a much shakier national field than it was a week ago. Some teams are idle, others are already turning the page to games that could reshape their place in the pecking order again, and that makes the next round of results even more important for anyone tracking the Volunteers path. The rankings may not tell the whole story yet, but they are suddenly carrying a lot more weight. [Read more 🡒]
Two Former Vols Add Extra Tension To Tennessees Kentucky Showdown
Saturday nights matchup in Knoxville already carries the usual SEC edge, but there is a little extra familiarity baked into this one. Tennessee will see two former Vols across the line of scrimmage in Kentucky offensive linemen Lance Heard and Max Anderson, both of whom transferred to Lexington this offseason and now return to Neyland Stadium in different roles.
Heard has become Kentuckys starting left tackle and has held that spot through the first eight games, while Anderson is part of the Wildcats reserve depth. For Tennessee, it adds another layer to a game that kicks at 6:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, with the Vols trying to handle a division rival and a pair of former teammates who know the setting well. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Just Got A Chance To Reset Everything Against Kentucky
Tennessee heads into its bye week at 6-2 and up one spot to No. 16 in the Coaches Poll, a solid place to regroup before the stretch run. The timing is useful, too, because the Vols return to Neyland Stadium for a matchup with Kentucky that carries real College Football Playoff weight and gives Josh Heupels team a chance to sharpen itself before the stakes climb even higher.
Heupel said the bye week will be about fundamentals and preparation, the kind of reset every contender wants before a game that can shape the rest of the season. With kickoff set for 6:15 p.m. ET in Knoxville, Tennessee gets a rare opportunity to step back, clean up the details and then find out whether the pause helped turn a good season into something more dangerous. [Read more 🡒]