Our ranking

#26
#26
Bottom line teams are where they are because of how they were viewed when the season started before ANY games were played. These polls never adjust accordingly when teams are exposed. The winners will stay put regardless of who they beat and how that team looks 3 or 4 game later. The only way those teams drop is when they lose.

Will the CFP poll do better? We will know when the first one comes out.
 
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#27
#27
And that has always been the fallacy of the polls - I remember 1998 when it looked like Tennessee was going to be on the outside looking in. It took ALL of the teams above us losing on championship weekend and Tennessee winning for us to make it. Had one of those other teams won - Tennessee would have been sitting at home with an undefeated season because of the pre-season view of "they must be bad because Peyton is no longer there". This year is a lot like that - we were projected to be not so good because there was no Nico and others.

Yes we still need to prove it by winning out - but even with 1 loss we could be on the outside looking in because of the pre-season perception of the team.
 
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#30
#30
volfan102455 said:
And that has always been the fallacy of the polls - I remember 1998 when it looked like Tennessee was going to be on the outside looking in. It took ALL of the teams above us losing on championship weekend and Tennessee winning for us to make it. Had one of those other teams won - Tennessee would have been sitting at home with an undefeated season because of the pre-season view of "they must be bad because Peyton is no longer there". This year is a lot like that - we were projected to be not so good because there was no Nico and others.

Yes we still need to prove it by winning out - but even with 1 loss we could be on the outside looking in because of the pre-season perception of the team.
Click to expand...

Tennessee was #2 in the BCS, #2 in the AP, #3 in the Coaches going into the November 7th game with UAB and was #1 in the BCS and AP for the rest of the season after the UAB game.
 
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#31
#31
volfan102455 said:
And that has always been the fallacy of the polls - I remember 1998 when it looked like Tennessee was going to be on the outside looking in. It took ALL of the teams above us losing on championship weekend and Tennessee winning for us to make it. Had one of those other teams won - Tennessee would have been sitting at home with an undefeated season because of the pre-season view of "they must be bad because Peyton is no longer there". This year is a lot like that - we were projected to be not so good because there was no Nico and others.

Yes we still need to prove it by winning out - but even with 1 loss we could be on the outside looking in because of the pre-season perception of the team.
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There is exactly zero chance we miss the playoffs with an 11-1 record. Very close to zero at 10-2.
 
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#33
#33
deatojl said:
There is exactly zero chance we miss the playoffs with an 11-1 record. Very close to zero at 10-2.
Click to expand...

This is like the same conversation from this time last year - It depends upon other teams inside and outside of the SEC and what their records are:

Let's look at 10-2 and assume that loss is to Bama with Ole Miss and A&M winning out and Georgia's only other loss is to Ole Miss:

- Ole Miss would be 12-0
- A&M would be 12-0
- Bama would be 11-1 (and 8-0 in the conference)
- Georgia would be 10-2
- Tennessee would be 10-2

For all those to get in would require that 4 of the 7 at large spots go to an SEC team. There were only 3 SEC teams that made the playoffs last year, the SEC only got 2 at large bids - we are not getting 5. This is the same thought folks had last year about this time - the SEC is going to get the most of the at large bids - didn't happen because teams in other conferences did NOT LOSE.

With Penn State losing that does help the SEC - if Penn State had won out the B1G was probably going to have OSU, Oregon, Penn State and Indiana in the mix. Miami is from the ACC, but wait Georgia Tech is currently undefeated and could easily end up 11-1. You also have Virginia that could end up 11-1. You have the Big 12 that may end up with a few 11-1 teams, maybe even an undefeated team. Notre Dame is also a wild card - they will more than likely be 10-2 and they will slowly rise in the rankings.

Depending upon how that all plays out the likelihood that both Georgia and Tennessee make the 7 with 2 losses is lower. Bama will always be above us unless they lose. We need to win that game giving them their second overall loss.

While I hate to say it - Ole Miss and A&M winning out works best for us unless both lose at least one game and we win out.
 
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#34
#34
VOLifornia said:
We move up a couple IMO. I believe it’s not the losses above us that are holding us back, it’s the quality of wins looking worse with Syracuse and Miss State getting handled.
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Agree partially.

Do not think that we can judge Syracuse anymore. Their starting QB is out for the season and pretty sure they had no one behind him.
 
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#37
#37
volfan102455 said:
This is like the same conversation from this time last year - It depends upon other teams inside and outside of the SEC and what their records are:

Let's look at 10-2 and assume that loss is to Bama with Ole Miss and A&M winning out and Georgia's only other loss is to Ole Miss:

- Ole Miss would be 12-0
- A&M would be 12-0
- Bama would be 11-1 (and 8-0 in the conference)
- Georgia would be 10-2
- Tennessee would be 10-2

For all those to get in would require that 4 of the 7 at large spots go to an SEC team. There were only 3 SEC teams that made the playoffs last year, the SEC only got 2 at large bids - we are not getting 5. This is the same thought folks had last year about this time - the SEC is going to get the most of the at large bids - didn't happen because teams in other conferences did NOT LOSE.

With Penn State losing that does help the SEC - if Penn State had won out the B1G was probably going to have OSU, Oregon, Penn State and Indiana in the mix. Miami is from the ACC, but wait Georgia Tech is currently undefeated and could easily end up 11-1. You also have Virginia that could end up 11-1. You have the Big 12 that may end up with a few 11-1 teams, maybe even an undefeated team. Notre Dame is also a wild card - they will more than likely be 10-2 and they will slowly rise in the rankings.

Depending upon how that all plays out the likelihood that both Georgia and Tennessee make the 7 with 2 losses is lower. Bama will always be above us unless they lose. We need to win that game giving them their second overall loss.

While I hate to say it - Ole Miss and A&M winning out works best for us unless both lose at least one game and we win out.
Click to expand...
This scenario would represent the absolute worst case for Tennessee at 10-2. Even then, here are some issues with it:
1. Last year, the SEC teams that were left out all had three losses.
2. The SEC is not limited to particular number of teams to get in.
3. An awful lot of uncertain things would have to happen for this scenario to even play out.
Is there a possible scenario where we would get left out at 10-2, sure. We would be overwhelmingly likely to get in, though. We would have and OT 3 point loss to Georgia and a road loss to Alabama to go with wins @Miss. St, @Florida, Oklahoma and Vandy. All we have to do is finish ranked in the top 11.
 
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#38
#38
Clad in Big Orange said:
To be fair, our best win is an OT road win against Miss. St. Our loss was at home to Georgia who bama soundly handled in Athens. I don't think the Vols are in position to argue with rankings. Just keep winning.
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It was a dog fight in the 4th. Is that soundly? It was a battle Royale. Don't down play how good Ga is.
 
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#40
#40
volfan102455 said:
And that has always been the fallacy of the polls - I remember 1998 when it looked like Tennessee was going to be on the outside looking in. It took ALL of the teams above us losing on championship weekend and Tennessee winning for us to make it. Had one of those other teams won - Tennessee would have been sitting at home with an undefeated season because of the pre-season view of "they must be bad because Peyton is no longer there". This year is a lot like that - we were projected to be not so good because there was no Nico and others.

Yes we still need to prove it by winning out - but even with 1 loss we could be on the outside looking in because of the pre-season perception of the team.
Click to expand...
For some reason, the retrospective narrative has always been that Tennessee needed UCLA and KState to both lose that last weekend in 1998. But that’s not true.

A) Tennessee was #1 headed into that weekend. All we had to do was finish #2 in order to play for the championship. If all 3 teams had won, the odds of Tennessee falling from 1 to 3 were slim. It was possible, but not likely.

B) If only one of KState or UCLA had lost (but not both), we were guaranteed to be in the championship game. And we’d probably have faced an easier opponent than that loaded FSU team. We’d have boatraced UCLA which didn’t play defense and lost the Rose Bowl to Wisconsin. KState ended up losing the Alamo Bowl to Purdue.

So no, we didn’t need UCLA and KState to both lose and we were likely in if neither lost.
 
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#41
#41
deatojl said:
This scenario would represent the absolute worst case for Tennessee at 10-2. Even then, here are some issues with it:
1. Last year, the SEC teams that were left out all had three losses.
2. The SEC is not limited to particular number of teams to get in.
3. An awful lot of uncertain things would have to happen for this scenario to even play out.
Is there a possible scenario where we would get left out at 10-2, sure. We would be overwhelmingly likely to get in, though. We would have and OT 3 point loss to Georgia and a road loss to Alabama to go with wins @Miss. St, @Florida, Oklahoma and Vandy. All we have to do is finish ranked in the top 11.
Click to expand...

While I agree - just saying that folks banking on 10-2 gets us in - forget last year when it took the right teams winning games for that to be a possibility. There were quite a few games that had to go a specific way. We were lucky.
 
#42
#42
NighthawkVol said:
For some reason, the retrospective narrative has always been that Tennessee needed UCLA and KState to both lose that last weekend in 1998. But that’s not true.

A) Tennessee was #1 headed into that weekend. All we had to do was finish #2 in order to play for the championship. If all 3 teams had won, the odds of Tennessee falling from 1 to 3 were slim. It was possible, but not likely.

B) If only one of KState or UCLA had lost (but not both), we were guaranteed to be in the championship game. And we’d probably have faced an easier opponent than that loaded FSU team. We’d have boatraced UCLA which didn’t play defense and lost the Rose Bowl to Wisconsin. KState ended up losing the Alamo Bowl to Purdue.

So no, we didn’t need both UCLA and KState to both lose and we were likely in if neither lost.
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It's a false narrative that some in our fanbase like to say to appear more victim minded or to make it sound more dramatic.

Tennessee was in no matter what.

People will absolutely refuse to admit it, but if we hadn't lost to Arkansas in 1999 late, even with one loss we would've played FSU again and undefeated VT would've been left out
 
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#43
#43
NighthawkVol said:
For some reason, the retrospective narrative has always been that Tennessee needed UCLA and KState to both lose that last weekend in 1998. But that’s not true.

A) Tennessee was #1 headed into that weekend. All we had to do was finish #2 in order to play for the championship. If all 3 teams had won, the odds of Tennessee falling from 1 to 3 were slim. It was possible, but not likely.

B) If only one of KState or UCLA had lost (but not both), we were guaranteed to be in the championship game. And we’d probably have faced an easier opponent than that loaded FSU team. We’d have boatraced UCLA which didn’t play defense and lost the Rose Bowl to Wisconsin. KState ended up losing the Alamo Bowl to Purdue.

So no, we didn’t need both UCLA and KState to both lose and we were likely in if neither lost.
Click to expand...

The narrative all weekend long was against Tennessee even with us setting at #1 folks were arguing for those other teams.

And had those teams won and defeated their opponent more convincingly - the conversation could have easily swayed the other way
 
#44
#44
Rickyvol77 said:
It's a false narrative that some in our fanbase like to say to appear more victim minded or to make it sound more dramatic.

Tennessee was in no matter what.

People will absolutely refuse to admit it, but if we hadn't lost to Arkansas in 1999 late, even with one loss we would've played FSU again and undefeated VT would've been left out
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Yep. We were #2 in the BCS before we lost that Arkansas game…even though we had a loss and VT didn’t.

Man, Tee was really terrible against Arkansas. And a bad passer in general. That team was so loaded in 1999. A good QB like Couch and we’re probably back to back NCs.
 
#46
#46
Shaun1985 said:
We didn't move when we won. Didn't move when we lost so I fully expect us to move when we didn't play. Its the only thing that makes sense.
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Those were different weeks with different circumstances.

Penn State and Texas both have 2 losses.
It wouldn’t make any sense at all to keep them both just above Tennessee but any one loss team in the top 15. Then there’s Iowa State that lost to Cincinnati. We lost to UGA in OT.


Yes we move at least 3 spots.


You people are effing weird. The whole world doesnt have a vendetta against Tennessee.

Stupid…
 
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#47
#47
volfan102455 said:
While I agree - just saying that folks banking on 10-2 gets us in - forget last year when it took the right teams winning games for that to be a possibility. There were quite a few games that had to go a specific way. We were lucky.
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I don't think we were lucky, as we finished somewhat comfortably above the cut line. We were ranked #7 in the final CFP poll. The only reason we got the #9 seed was because of the rule that the top four conference champions got an automatic top four seed. That is not the case this year. They simply get an automatic spot in the field. Without that rule last year, we would have had a home game against SMU in the first round.
 
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