Tennessee Football. Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Cole Moore/Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee football landed at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. It is the exact same spot that they debuted in the rankings the week before. However, a pair of teams jumping the Vols in the rankings was very notable.
Both Indiana and BYU were ranked behind Tennessee a week ago but jumped the Vols to fill the two-spots right ahead of them after Georgia lost at Ole Miss and Miami lost against Georgia Tech last weekend.
“It really came down to the play last week of both Indiana and BYU, both winning big games on their schedule,” College Football Playoff Chair Warde Manuel said. “BYU, obviously undefeated, two wins against top-25 opponents, at SMU and against Kansas State. In looking at it, as we assessed all the teams, we just felt that Indiana and BYU earned the 5 and the 6 slot, and Tennessee stayed where they are.”
Manuel, who is the Michigan Athletic Director, explanation for BYU and Indiana jumping Tennessee is illogical. Indiana earned a 20-15 home win over Michigan (5-5) while BYU defeated Oklahoma State (4-5) 22-21 in Stillwater last week. Both the Wolverines and Cowboys landed in the preseason top 25 but have not been good teams this season. Not only were they not quality wins, but neither team was impressive in their victory.
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Tennessee undoubtedly beat a worst opponent in Mississippi State (2-8) last Saturday but the Vols did it much more convincingly, knocking off the Bulldogs 33-19 despite starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava missing the second half with an injury.
More From RTI: Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava Reprtedly In Concussion Protocol And Practiced Tuesday
Iamaleava exiting the game against Mississippi State and his status being uncertain for Saturday’s game at Georgia did not affect Tennessee’s ranking according to Manuel.
“I can say no to the injury to Tennessee’s quarterback. It had nothing to do with it,” Manuel said.
Both BYU and Indiana are undefeated at this point in the season and have cases to be ranked ahead of Tennessee. However, there was nothing that happened last weekend that would justify the two jumping the Vols in the rankings.
Tennessee’s offensive struggles were another reason mentioned for why the committee ranked Indiana and BYU over the Vols.
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“Tennessee, the offense has struggled some the second half of the season, not being consistent early in the year, and we just felt as a committee that at this time Indiana has been playing very well, a close win against Michigan, but other than that, they’ve dominated everyone they’ve played.”
Tennessee’s 33 points against a bad Mississippi State defense were the most they’ve scored in a single game since its September win over Kent State with.
The Vols do control their own destiny and can all but lock up their spot in the College Football Playoffs by knocking off No. 12 Georgia (7-2, 5-2 SEC) on Saturday night in Athens. The Bulldogs are coming off a loss at Ole Miss and have to run the table to have any chance at making the 12-team playoff.
The Vols could land in the playoffs even with a loss against Georgia but that is far from a certainty with this week’s rankings and the logjam of potential SEC teams that could finish with a 10-2 record.
Indiana has by far the hardest game on its schedule remaining as the Hoosiers will face Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 23. The Hoosiers best win in their 10-2 start to the season is either its home win over Washington (5-5) or home win over Michigan (5-5). Indiana’s only win over a team with a winning record is Nebraska (5-4).
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Kickoff between Tennessee and Georgia is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ABC.
No. 13 Tennessee (12-0) will open Southeastern Conference basketball play on Thursday. Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll.
Texas A&M (7-5) will host the Lady Vols at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. Tennessee leads the basketball series versus the Aggies, 11-8, dating to 1997.
Tennessee is looking to start the 2024-25 basketball season 13-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign (15-0).
The Lady Vols enter Thursday’s SEC opener having scored 100 points six times during the 2024-25 season. The all time record for the Lady Vols is seven during the 1987-88 season.
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READ: 2024-25 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball roster
PHOTOS: Kim Caldwell through the years
Here is how to watch the Tennessee-Texas A&M basketball game, including time, TV schedule and streaming information.
What channel is Tennessee vs. Texas A&M game on? Time, TV schedule
TV channel: SEC Network+
Start time: 8 p.m. EST
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Steve Miller (play-by-play) and Tab Bentz (analyst) will be on the call.
Watch Tennessee vs. Texas A&M live on ESPN+
Tennessee Lady Vols 2024-25 basketball results
Oct. 31 Carson-Newman (Exhibition — W, 135-49)
Nov. 5 Samford (W, 101-53)
Nov. 7 UT Martin (W, 90-50)
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Nov. 12 Middle Tennessee State (W, 89-75)
Nov. 16 Liberty (W, 109-93)
Nov. 26 Western Carolina (W, 102-50)
Dec. 4 Florida State (W, 79-77)
Dec. 7 Iowa (W, 78-68 — Brooklyn, New York)
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Dec. 14 North Carolina Central (W, 139-59)
Dec. 18 at Memphis (W, 90-75)
Dec. 20 Richmond (W, 92-67 — West Palm Bech, Florida)
Dec. 21 Tulsa (W, 102-61 — West Palm Beach, Florida)
Dec. 29 Winthrop (W, 114-50)
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Former Alabama and Florida State WR Malik Benson is set to visit Knoxville soon.
Tennessee will be the host of a very talented wide receiver’s visit. Tennessee will be hosting Florida State wide receiver transfer Malik Benson on a visit.
Benson is a former Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida State Seminole wide receiver. Before committing to the Tide, Tennessee was heavily in the conversation to land Benson. Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama were the finalists for the talented wideout.
Benson finished his season with 311 yards and one touchdown. In the season prior with Alabama, he finished with 162 yards and one touchdown.
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Benson will visit both Tennessee and Oregon after calling off his Texas A&M visit.
Tennessee still awaits news from Mike Matthews on if he plans to continue the transfer process. If he does that will be the sixth departure to the portal at the wide receiver position. The Vols will need to bring talent in from the portal to even the playing field and it starts with a big impression from Benson.
The Tennessee Titans have a lot of holes to patch this coming NFL offseason, and perhaps none are more important than finding a new quarterback.
While the Titans’ easiest path to a franchise quarterback will be selecting one in the NFL Draft, they could also potentially pursue the free-agent mark or trades to discover an answer.
Lately, more and more momentum has been building toward Aaron Rodgers becoming Tennessee’s next signal-caller, and if that does happen, the Titans will certainly need to surround him with some more weapons.
Cory Kinnan of Daft on Draft recently put together a mock draft and has Tennessee landing both Rodgers and Missouri Tigers wide receiver Luther Burden III during the offseason.
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“With a ton of needs on an aging roster, the Titans are not in the position to take a quarterback,” Kinnan wrote. “This could be a team that gets in the market for Aaron Rodgers, so they get him a target here in Luther Burden III. Not the receiver you expected? He’s my WR1 so why not slot him first in this mock draft?”
Burden is widely viewed as one of the most explosive playmakers in this year’s draft class and is coming off of a 2024 campaign in which he caught 61 passes for 676 yards and six touchdowns in what was actually a down year for him.
Last season, he hauled in 82 receptions for 1,212 yards and nine scores.
The idea of the Titans gambling on Rodgers is a risky one, considering that the 41-year-old has not looked like himself with the New York Jets this year.
Rodgers is also under contract for 2025, so Tennessee would either have to trade for the future Hall-of-Famer or hope that the Jets cut him in order to add him.
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It should definitely be an interesting offseason in Music City.
Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!
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