Where Tennessee is ranked in first College Football Playoff Top 25

Tennessee was ranked No. 25 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season Tuesday night. The Vols are coming off their third loss of the season Saturday night, losing 33-27 to Oklahoma at Nelyand Stadium. The other two losses were 44-41 in overtime at home against Georgia and 37-20 at Alabama.

The College Football Playoff Top 25 will be updated on Tuesdays each week through Sunday, December 7, when the 12-team bracket is revealed.

The Vols dropped eight spots to No. 22 in the new Coaches Poll and nine spots to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee (6-3) is off this week and hosts New Mexico State (3-5) on November 15, with kickoff scheduled for 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time on SEC Network. The Vols then close the regular-season schedule with a trip to Florida on November 22 and Senior Day against Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium on November 29. 

Joey Aguilar on Saturday night completed 29 of 45 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns, but he was responsible for three turnovers that led to 16 Oklahoma points in the first half.

The Sooners turned a strip sack into a fumble returned 71 yards for at touchdown to tie the game in the first quarter, then picked Aguilar off twice in the second quarter, leading to two field goals and a 16-10 halftime lead. 

Joey Aguilar: ‘Our next focus is our next opponent.’

Saturday night’s game was widely viewed as a College Football Playoff elimination game, with both teams entering with two losses and needing to win out to stay in the conversation for the 12-team postseason field. 

“Ultimately, we’re not in control of any of those things,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said after the loss. “We’re in control of what we do. Disappointed. Thought they prepared extremely hard. There’s some things that were really good defensively early tonight. I thought they played really good football. 

“Got a choice to make. Life. How you going to respond? This group has competed, continued to try to get better every day. Expect and demand that as we get going here on the back end of the season.”

“Just keep fighting,” Aguilar added. “We’re blessed to have three more games, and you just got to take it week by week. College football is crazy, but our next focus is our next opponent.”

Tennessee’s updated bowl projections

Updated bowl projections this week from both On3’s Brett McMurphy and Athon Sports have Tennessee and Miami matching up in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. 

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and College Football News have Tennessee in the ReliaQuest Bowl, with Schlabach matching up the Vols and Iowa while Illinois is the projected opponent from College Football News.

USA Today has a Tennessee-Illinois matchup in the Music City Bowl and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Vols facing SMU in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte. CBS Sports has Tennessee and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, a rematch of a 45-17 Tennessee win on New Year’s Day in 2002, the only time the two teams have played.