Tennessee is seven games into this college football season, having amassed six victories and having swept rivals Florida and Alabama the past two weekends.
The more the Volunteers win from here on out, the more they are certain to be linked to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. That conversation is certain to increase, and Tennessee fourth-year coach Josh Heupel knows his players can’t be blanketed from the speculation.
“Our guys are aware of it,” Heupel said after Saturday’s 24-17 downing of the Crimson Tide inside a frenzied Neyland Stadium. “I wish I could put blinders on them, but that’s not real. They’re going to see whatever the TV is going to have on the bottom of the ticker.”
The Vols, whose 6-1 overall record includes a 3-1 mark in Southeastern Conference play, are off this week before hosting Kentucky on Nov. 2. Three days after they face the Wildcats, the first batch of CFP rankings will be revealed.
Tennessee was No. 1 in the first CFP rankings of the 2022 season but then lost 27-13 at Georgia and never climbed back into the top four. The playoff field has since tripled, and the odds of the Vols qualifying are better than 50/50.