Tennessee Headed to CFP In Latest College Football Bowl Projections

Tennessee has had a nearly perfect start to the season so far.

The No. 4 Vols are coming off a bye week and are getting ready to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in what will be another tough test on the road. Given the Vols’ 4-0 start, including two wins over ranked teams, Tennessee is getting a lot of love and playoff hype at this early point in the year.

ESPN recently updated its bowl projections courtesy of writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach. Here is where they both had Tennessee positioned in the 12-team playoff as well as how far they expect the Vols to advance.

Bonagura has Tennessee as the No. 6 seed in the field and facing No. 11 Clemson in Neyland Stadium in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Schlabach also has the Vols facing the Tigers, but he has Tennessee as the 7-seed and Clemson as the 10-seed. This game would also be played in Knoxville.

Both also predicted the Vols to win their first-round matchups and advance to the CFP quarterfinals. Bonagura had Tennessee facing off with No. 3 Miami in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. Schlabach has Tennessee playing Ohio State in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. That is as far as he had the Vols advancing as he is projecting they lose to the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, Bonagura has the Vols advancing to the semifinal before falling to Ohio State. Both writers have Tennessee losing to the Buckeyes, just at different points in the bracket.

The Vols are certainly in an advantageous situation to make the 12-team playoff field. These projections are assuming the Vols continue to pick up big wins along the way during the season. The first step toward making the playoffs is beating Arkansas on Saturday, which is what head coach Josh Heupel and his team are focused on this week.

“First of all, I know it’s going to be a great environment there,” Heupel said Monday. “This is a really good football team. They’re a couple plays away from being undefeated. You look at the way that they played this past weekend, they’re playing extremely physical, both sides of the line with scrimmage. Defensively, one of the best teams in in the country.”

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