Skip to main content
Tennessee

ESPN details Tennessee's spot on the College Football Playoff bubble

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey10/14/25GrantRamey
Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | Tennessee wide receiver Braylon Staley (14) keeps going after breaking a tackle from Arkansas defensive back Miguel Mitchell (16) in an NCAA college football game on Oct. 11, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | Tennessee wide receiver Braylon Staley (14) keeps going after breaking a tackle from Arkansas defensive back Miguel Mitchell (16) in an NCAA college football game on Oct. 11, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

No. 11 Tennessee could make its College Football Playoff statement loud and clear with a win at No. 6 Alabama Saturday night. The Vols are on the playoff bubble, according to ESPN, and will stay there until they find their statement win.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich on Tuesday labeled Tennessee as “on the cusp” while spotlighting the Vols on the College Football Playoff bubble. 

“The Vols have looked like a borderline playoff team against unranked opponents in recent weeks,” Dinich wrote, “beating Mississippi State and Arkansas by a combined 10 points with one overtime.”

Up Next No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Tennessee won 41-34 in overtime at Mississippi State and beat Arkansas 34-31 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, improving to 5-1 on the season with a 2-1 record in SEC play.

The only other loss is the 44-41 overtime home loss to Georgia on September 13. The other three wins were against Syracuse (45-26), East Tennessee State (72-17) and UAB (56-24).

At the halfway point of the season, ESPN listed Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Texas A&M as teams that would be in the College Football Playoff as of now. 

Tennessee was on the only team listed in the “on the cusp” category while Missouri, Texas and Vanderbilt were grouped together under the “work to do” label. 

“Offensively (Tennessee has) been elite,” ESPN wrote, “averaging 300 yards passing and 200 rushing per game. Defensively, they need to stop the run to make to challenge in the SEC. They’ll have a chance against Alabama on Saturday to further legitimize their hopes. 

“With a win, Tennessee’s chances of reaching the playoff would jump to 52%, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor. Tennessee ranks No. 10 in ESPN’s game control metric and No. 19 in strength of record.”

‘The Vols are projected in the committee’s No. 12 spot this week’

ESPN bumped Tennessee from its updated College Football Playoff projections two weeks ago, after the win at Mississippi State, and had the Vols as a No. 11 seed last week. They were bumped again after the win over Arkansas while ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s projected current top 12 in the CFP rankings.

“The Vols are projected in the committee’s No. 12 spot this week,” Dinich wrote, “which means they would get knocked out of the actual field during the seeding process to make room for the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion. 

“The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoff, so if the fifth team is ranked outside of the committee’s top 12, its No. 12 team gets the boot.”