Joel Klatt weighs in on Tennessee’s CFP chances without winning SEC East

FOX College Football analyst Joel Klatt understands that with such a packed group of teams at the top of the initial College Football playoff rankings there is likely to be some controversy and some teams that are upset.

Klatt acknowledges the SEC’s presences in the rankings with five teams in the top 11 and how it could possibly provide protection for top-ranked Tennessee should the Volunteers lose a game and the SEC East.

“LSU at No. 10 is a bit of an outlier. They are the highest-ranked two-loss team in the country. It got me thinking a little bit that this LSU ranking is a huge deal…it basically builds a wall behind Tennessee, even if LSU loses this week to Alabama.”

“Because if Tennessee loses to Georgia…well Georgia is Top 3 and it would be on the road. Tennessee would still have that really good win…great win…best win in the country against Alabama. Now they have what looks to be the second-best win in the country, going on the road and beating LSU soundly.”

Does Tennessee now have a path to the CFP even without winning the SEC East? ?@JoelKlatt | @JoelKlattShow pic.twitter.com/qj4GNfl3w9

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 3, 2022

Klatt makes some great points, as long as LSU continues to provide that wall by getting to 9 or 10 wins Tennessee can get in the top four at 11-1 without a conference division title. There’s plenty of precedent for it (2001 Nebraska, 2012 Alabama). Now if Michigan and Ohio State can get to their game without losing first that would pose a roadblock. If TCU and Clemson win out, that would pose a roadblock as well. And what if Alabama wins out and beats an undefeated Georgia team in the SEC Championship Game. We could be looking at three undefeated teams and three SEC teams at 12-1 or 11-1.

This is all the more reason the playoffs need to be expanded immediately

Corey Long

Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.