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Warde Manuel explains why Ohio State is ranked above Tennessee in latest rankings
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Warde Manuel held his weekly teleconference with college football media members following the update of the CFP rankings on Tuesday night.
One of the more interesting decisions made by the committee this week was where it chose to rank Ohio State following its loss to Michigan in Week 14. This wee, the Buckeyes landed at No. 8 in the committee’s projected bracket — 1 spot above 10-2 Tennessee.
The difference between being seeded 8th or 9th in the new format is immense — the 8-seed will host a Playoff game against the 9-seed in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Given the stakes, Manuel was asked why the committee has the Buckeyes one spot above Tennessee.
“Yeah, very similar resumes,” Manuel said. “Ohio State is 2-1 against top-10 teams. They have the win over Indiana and the win over Penn State. One of their two losses is to the No. 1 team in the country and then obviously the loss to Michigan last week.
“Tennessee also has had an impressive resume. They have two losses against Arkansas and against No. 5 Georgia. So they’re very close. It was a constant conversation as to how we saw both teams, a lot of deliberation on them, and so it was just — it was a lot of conversation in the outcome of the vote that had Ohio State ahead of Tennessee.”
It’s possible these rankings could shift slightly based on what happens in this week’s conference championship games, but Ohio State appears to be in great position to host a first-round game regardless of this week’s results. Tennessee, meanwhile, would need to move up in the rankings without playing in order to host a first-round Playoff game in 2024.
The final CFP rankings will be revealed on Tuesday night.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
