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Warde Manuel defends College Football Playoff selection committee ranking of Ohio State, Tennessee

On3 imageby: Andrew Graham12/04/24AndrewEdGraham
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Photos by Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images and Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After posting 10 points in an upset loss to Michigan on Saturday, Ohio State fell four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings to No. 6. Likely one spot too high for the liking of Tennessee faithful.

By holding at No. 6, one spot ahead of No. 7 Tennessee — both teams are 10-2 — the Buckeyes may have boxed out a hosting bid as an at-large at the expense of the Volunteers. And there’s a case to be made that Tennessee could be a spot ahead, certainly one being made around Knoxville.

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But with neither team playing in their respective conference title games, it seems their order is set and that means the Buckeyes have the inside track to host.

“Yeah, very similar resumes. Ohio State is 2-1 against top-10 teams. They have the win over Indiana and the win over Penn State. One of their two losses is to the No. 1 team in the country and then obviously the loss to Michigan last week,” selection committee chair Warde Manuel said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. “Tennessee also has had an impressive resume. They have two losses against Arkansas and against No. 5 Georgia. So they’re very close.”

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As Manuel explained it, the debate between the two teams was close. And there’s not a ton to separate them by way of resume.

Both of them have one generally excusable loss, going on the road and falling to Top 5 opponents. Both have one bad loss — Tennessee on the road at Arkansas and Ohio State versus Michigan — albeit at different points in the calendar. Evidently, recency bias didn’t hurt the Buckeyes.

And while Ohio State’s loss might be a touch worse, given it was at home, the Buckeyes seem to have a trump card in the form of two Top 10 wins: at Penn State and vs. Indiana.

The best win for Tennessee came at home against Alabama.

That, among a handful of other slim margins, seemed to be the deciding factor for two teams without a ton to separate them.

“It was a constant conversation as to how we saw both teams, a lot of deliberation on them, and so it was just — it was a lot of conversation in the outcome of the vote that had Ohio State ahead of Tennessee,” Manuel said.