The Tennessee Volunteers know they are headed to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
Their season inside Neyland Stadium, however, may be over.
The Vols (10-2) were No. 7 Tuesday night in the penultimate rankings of the 13-member CFP selection committee, which has them as the projected No. 9 seed and traveling to No. 8 Ohio State (10-2) in a first-round pairing if the playoff took place this week. Results of this weekend’s conference championship games certainly could alter the bracket, but the Vols being listed behind the Buckeyes was not desired news for Tennessee fans hoping to cheer their team on one more time in Knoxville, where they have won 22 of their last 23 games.
Both the Associated Press poll and the USA Today coaches poll have Tennessee No. 6 this week and Ohio State No. 7.
“Ohio State is 2-1 against top-10 teams with the win over Indiana and the win over Penn State, and one of their two losses is to the No. 1 team in the country,” CFP chair and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said on a conference call. “They obviously have the loss to Michigan last week. Tennessee also has two losses against Arkansas and against No. 5 Georgia, so they’re very close.