Tennessee's updated bowl projections after overtime win at Mississippi State

Tennessee is still in the College Football Playoff conversation according to ESPN. But the Vols slipped in the projected playoff rankings after the 41-34 overtime win at Mississippi State on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

Dinich dropped the Vols to No. 11 in her projected College Football Playoff top 12, meaning Tennessee would be bumped out of the bracket by Texas Tech, ESPN’s predicted Big 12 champion. Memphis was the No. 12 seed as the projected American champ, taking place of Penn State, which was ranked No. 12.

Outside of the playoff, Tennessee’s bowl projections continued to be varied across multiple outlets.

The most popular bowl projection after Week 5 is the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, along with the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando and a Mayo Bowl pick.

On3’s Brett McMurphy has Tennessee in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Indiana, while CBS Sports has the Vols in Tampa against Michigan. 

Athlon projects a Tennessee-Michigan matchup in the Citrus Bowl and USA Today has Tennessee and Louisville in the Gator Bowl.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Vols in the Mayo Bowl against Georgia Tech and ESPN’s Mark Schlabach has Tennessee in the Gator Bowl against Florida State.

ESPN has Vols on College Football Playoff bubble with ‘work to do’

Dinich on Tuesday had Tennessee in the “work to do” category while projecting the current College Football Playoff bubble.

SEC teams currently in ESPN’s College Football Playoff prediction are Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M. LSU was listed as “on the cusp” while the Vols were joined by Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas and Vanderbilt with “work to do.”

Dinich’s top four seeds are now No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 Texas A&M. The first-round matchups are No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Florida State and No. 9 Georgia at No. 8 Alabama. 

“The loss to Georgia is keeping the Vols behind the Bulldogs,” Dinich wrote, “and they got a scare Saturday at Mississippi State before winning in overtime. The season-opening win against Syracuse doesn’t look as impressive after the Orange lost 38-3 to Duke. Unlike LSU, though, the Vols haven’t had any trouble finding points.”

Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee vs. Arkansas

Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) is now off until Arkansas (2-3, 0-1) comes to Neyland Stadium on October 11 (4:15 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network). The Vols then go to Alabama and Kentucky in back-to-back weeks, before closing the regular-season schedule with three home games over the final four weeks: Oklahoma, New Mexico State, at Florida and Vanderbilt.

Georgia lost 24-21 to Alabama Saturday night in Athens, with the Crimson Tide bouncing back from the loss to Florida State in Week 1 with three straight wins. 

LSU dropped its first game of the season on Saturday at Ole Miss. 

“It’s possible the committee would have LSU ahead of Tennessee and Penn State,” Dinich wrote.