The expanded world of the college football postseason can result in teams having a better chance at the national championship than their own conference championship.
Such as this year’s Tennessee Volunteers.
Saturday’s 27-13 setback against Georgia inside Sanford Stadium has left the Vols 8-1 overall and 4-1 in Southeastern Conference play with games remaining against Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs are 9-0 and 6-0 within the league, needing only a split against Mississippi State and Kentucky the next two weeks to secure a fifth SEC East title in the last six seasons.
The likelihood of Georgia losing to both MSU and Kentucky is minuscule, thus making Tennessee the longest of long shots to be in Atlanta on December’s first Saturday, but the Vols are very much in the hunt for one of the four College Football Playoff spots. The SEC comprised half the playoff field after the 2017 season and after last season as well.
“There is a whole month of football,” Vols coach Josh Heupel said Monday in his weekly news conference. “There is a lot of ball left to be played by everybody in the country. Up until this point, we’ve done a lot of things right, obviously, and in this last ball game, credit to Georgia.