7th in AP Poll

[Stephen Gray]

We opted out of a game. We are to blame and there's no other way to look at it. And you know this.

I don’t know if we did or not, but… we should have won that game, and in no universe should we have played that badly and gotten thrashed like we did. That has to factor in.

 

[VolArmy74]

There’s no way to justify Bama being ranked ahead of us. None.

AP voters are idiots. Oregon State literally just beat Oregon and they have the same record and Oregon is a spot ahead of them too. That means voters just saw that score and still voted Oregon ahead of Oregon State.

 

[mpfvol]

I could go that way since we have the head to head but I’m also ok with it because they lost their games by a combined 4 points iirc. I guess I’m ok with either way.

I am almost the same but they beat no one that was real good and had REF help to beat Texas and A&M was a few yards from beating them at home also . If not for Young at QB they lose 4 games this year at UT kills them

 

[Vol423]

You might be right but that'd be a raw deal for USC. OSU gets to benefit by another team losing in a game that OSU didn't even have to play.

LOL. Vols fans weren't complaining after our loss to Georgia that we could have potentially back-doored our way into the CFP without playing in the SEC Championship Game. I guess you were the exception?

 

[Vol423]

This is bull crap! We should be 5. Ohio State should’ve fallen more, we should be ahead of Bama, and whoever else is up there.

Ohio State has 1 loss. We have 2.

 

[kckempf]

What terrible loss do they have? The common opponent factor doesn’t mean a thing when you lose to one of the worst teams in the conference by 20+.

Clearly the voters are giving Alabama credit for wins over #6 and #11 teams in the country.

 

[DocVol]

There’s no way to justify Bama being ranked ahead of us. None.

Selective amnesia is a good coping mechanism.

 

[Orange defense]

Ohio State has 1 loss. We have 2.

They got blown out, and should’ve fallen 5 or 6 points down.

 

[Hulavol]

There’s no way to justify Bama being ranked ahead of us. None.

Not trying to argue - but they didn’t lose to South Carolina.
And certainly not by thirty points.

Would that have happened to Bama? Nope. Bama would have beaten them into oblivion.

That’s just reality.

 

[Sea Ray]

LOL. Vols fans weren't complaining after our loss to Georgia that we could have potentially back-doored our way into the CFP without playing in the SEC Championship Game. I guess you were the exception?

How were we going to back door it? We would have earned our spot before the championship week. At worst we'd be 4 seed and that's assuming TCU wins out. No loss next week was going to be the difference in our getting in. You don't get it or are you kinda slow?

 

[OldVolMan]

Think the CFP will match this exactly. And if USC and TCU lose then Bama will get in.

 

[JMSqb11]

Not trying to argue - but they didn’t lose to South Carolina.
And certainly not by thirty points.

Would that have happened to Bama? Nope. Bama would have beaten them into oblivion.

That’s just reality.

I don’t get the anger. 5-7 rankings in AP are within 118 points of each other. Clearly it’s a toss up between those 3 team. I wouldn’t be shocked to see us at 6 on Tuesday night.

 

[vols 30]

#7 is a good spot. After not showing up and getting embarrassed by SC, it feels pretty good to still be in the top 10. And No, we shouldn't be ahead of Bama.

 

[Stephen Gray]

I don’t get the anger. 5-7 rankings in AP are within 118 points of each other. Clearly it’s a toss up between those 3 team. I wouldn’t be shocked to see us at 6 on Tuesday night.

Same. I do think it’s a good argument for playoff expansion.

 

[volfanhill]

Clemson dropping only three spots is garbage. They’ve played nobody except a barely decent Notre Dame and a Johnny come lately Top 25 SCar.

Everyone with 2 losses is ahead of them except Tulane and UTSA.

 

[rocktopper16]

We opted out of a game. We are to blame and there's no other way to look at it. And you know this.

If margin of victory doesn’t matter neither does margin of loss. That’s where I’m at. Every talking head screams that doesn’t matter if you win by more than 14 so why does it matter if you lose by more than 14?

 

[#1n51&98]

USC will be in the CFP in the 4 spot unless they lose the Pac-12 Championship Game. If they lose (and they might), Ohio State will be #4.

I
Bitter pill to swallow , but this is %100 accurate imo .

 

[VolCalls]

I wish we were ahead and can see a strong argument since we beat them but they lost their games by a combined 4 points and we lost ours by like 39 iirc. I can see that as a strong argument too.

We also lost by 25pts eight days ago. Had we lost to Pitt in week two, but beaten SC, we’d be just fine for the CFP. Bad timing on our part. That’s how these things work.

 

[Stephen Gray]

We also lost by 25pts eight days ago. Had we lost to Pitt in week two, but beaten SC, we’d be just fine for the CFP. Bad timing on our part. That’s how these things work.

Yeah. Win the game we are supposed to even if by just 1 point and no one has to have this debate.

 

[Vol423]

They got blown out, and should’ve fallen 5 or 6 points down.

LOL. You can't be serious. They are now the lowest ranked of the 1-loss teams. The fell as far as they were EVER going to fall. They lost by 22 points to the #2 in the nation. We lost last week by 25 points to a team that was unranked at the time.

 

[Orange defense]

LOL. You can't be serious. They are now the lowest ranked of the 1-loss teams. The fell as far as they were EVER going to fall. They lost by 22 points to the #2 in the nation. We lost last week by 25 points to a team that was unranked at the time.

But they’re ranked now. Which means we had a tougher schedule than most of these teams. We still should be five Tuesday night.

 

[VolArmy74]

Not trying to argue - but they didn’t lose to South Carolina.
And certainly not by thirty points.

Would that have happened to Bama? Nope. Bama would have beaten them into oblivion.

That’s just reality.

Why do you think that? Their blow out win over 8-4 Texas? Their crushing victory over a 4 win Texas A&M team? Their huge blowout vs an 8-4 Ole Miss team that is staggering across the finish line?

I'll go the other direction. If Alabama had to go into Columbia at night the last two weeks South Carolina would have smoked them.

 

[DrTNT]

Clemson dropping only three spots is garbage. They’ve played nobody except a barely decent Notre Dame and a Johnny come lately Top 25 SCar.

Which is another thing… now both of our losses weee to top 25 teams…

 

[90 Vol]

Because they lost by 20+ to a terrible team?

Nope! Both teams are 10-2 and we beat Bama head to head. Plus, Tennessee has a better SOS.

 

[Vol423]

But they’re ranked now. Which means we had a tougher schedule than most of these teams. We still should be five Tuesday night.

Prepare to be bitterly disappointed. That loss to USC eliminated us from the CFP. Even if all 4 of the top 4 teams lost between now and the final selection show, you would end up with CFP brackets with the following 4 teams (in some order): Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Alabama. We are behind both Ohio State and Alabama, and there is no possibility of ANY combination of future events on the field that will change that.