Last night, the second College Football Playoff rankings for the 2024 season were released. There were several things that were anticipated to happen, such as Georgia & Miami dropping and Ole Miss & Alabama rising.
One thing that was not expected, by a large majority of college football fans, was Indiana and BYU jumping the Tennessee Volunteers in the rankings. Despite all three teams winning this past weekend, only Indiana and BYU saw an improvement in their rankings. This was rather puzzling because neither BYU nor Indiana’s wins were all that impressive. Not to mention Tennessee entered this week ranked ahead of both teams.
I’ll go ahead and say it, neither was Tennessee’s win, but they had no issue against Mississippi State without their starting quarterback for the entire second half. Meanwhile, both the Hoosiers and the Cougars struggled mightily with far inferior opponents.
Tennessee Volunteers: What Happened With The CFP Rankings Last Night
Indiana
Indiana entered the week ranked #8 in the country. They took on the 5-4 Michigan Wolverines. This game was ugly. Despite jumping out to a 17-3 lead, Indiana struggled to move the ball at all in the second half.
In total, the Hoosiers only managed to put up 246 yards against a subpar Wolverines defense. They would hold on to win the game 20-15, thanks in large part to Michigan’s inability to produce offense.
Now, looking at their whole season, Indiana has yet to play a ranked opponent. The CFP selection committee should see that and be able to conclude that IU does not have a more impressive win than Tennessee’s win over #9 Alabama.
It is also very hard to believe that the Hoosiers would be able to beat the Vols at a neutral site. However, the committee supposedly took all of this into consideration and determined Indiana was the 5th best team in the country, currently.
BYU
BYU’s case is a little better. The Cougars entered this week ranked #9 in the country, before taking on 4-4 Utah. Utah, who entered this season as a top-15 team, has been severely underwhelming so far boasting an average offense and defense.
The Cougars were down 21-10 at the start of the second half and barely rallied to win by one, with the final score of 22-21. This is by no means an impressive win and definitely does not warrant a three-spot jump in the rankings.
BYU does have two A.P. Top 25 wins, something that even the Vols do not have. But, BYU has played a far easier schedule in comparison to the Vols. The selection committee took this into consideration and deemed BYU to be the 6th best team in the country.
Tennessee
Tennessee entered this week ranked #7 in the CFP rankings. They took on 2-7 Mississippi State. This win was by no means pretty, but despite being without starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the Vols still cruised to an easy 33-14 win.
On the season, the Vols have beaten three Top 25 opponents, at the time of the game, but only one of those teams is still ranked. That is Alabama, who is currently ranked the #10 team in the country. This win alone should be enough for the Vols to be ranked higher than Indiana and BYU, let alone in the top four.
The Vols remained at the seventh spot in the most recent CFP rankings, and when Selection Committee Chairman Warde Manuel was asked about the rankings, he had quite a bit to say.
If you saw Warde Manuel's quote on the Indiana-BYU-Tennessee situation and don't understand the complete ridiculousness of that answer, you can't be helped.
These people are in charge of so much money and so much power, and this man basically said ice is made in the microwave.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) November 13, 2024
“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,” said Manuel.
“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 five and the six slot, and Tennessee stayed where they are.”
These comments have very little substance. Indiana has played next to nobody of real threat this season. Outside of SMU and Kansas State, BYU has also played teams that pose little to no threat.
Let’s not act like there isn’t a difference between a good SEC team and a good B10, B12, or ACC team.
At the end of the day, the rankings in Week 11 mean very little. There are still at least three games the Vols have to play before the rankings mean anything. However, it is clear that they will not receive any help or benefit of the doubt from the selection committee.
The best way to stick it to the committee, and get the ranking that the team deserves is to win out. Force them to rank the Vols high.
The Vols are back in action this Saturday, November 16th. They will travel to Athens, GA to take on the Georgia Bulldogs, in a game that will likely decide at least half of the SEC Championship. Follow me on X (Twitter) @JacksonVols24 for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in college and professional football, click here!
