Heather Dinich is regularly considering different scenarios for the College Football Playoff, and one of them is what kind of chance Tennessee has to make the final 4 since the Vols won’t play in Atlanta this season.

“I would not call them a shoo-in, they are in a very good spot, but this is the way I phrase it is if you’re not playing on conference championship weekend, you’re praying on that weekend,” the ESPN Playoff reporter said on WJOX’s “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.” “Because those conference titles, to be able to punctuate a resume with that, it means something in the committee meeting room, that’s one of the tiebreakers they use when they deem teams comparable.”

The key, though, is the committee must see the teams comparable, in order to get to the tiebreakers.

However, Dinich believes the trouble for Tennessee lies in the fact that people aren’t giving Southern Cal enough credence for what the Trojans can still do. They can still potentially win against UCLA, Notre Dame and in the Pac-12 title game. The Trojans have been playing well, and Caleb Williams has a solid case as one of the best players in the country.