Tennessee moved up a spot to No. 7 in the college football playoff rankings on Tuesday but the Vols didn’t jump Ohio State, which tumbled four spots to sixth after being upset by unranked Michigan on Saturday.
The significance of that one spot meant the Buckeyes were projected to host a first-round game against UT on Dec. 20.
The final rankings will be announced on Sunday, following the conference championship games.
Tennessee, which finished the regular season with a 36-23 victory at Vanderbilt, had moved ahead of the Buckeyes in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. Therefore, there had been hope among UT observers that the same would happen in the playoff rankings. After all, Georgia had dropped nine spots earlier after losing at Ole Miss, which was ranked No. 13 on Tuesday. By comparison, Ohio State was a three-touchdown favorite against Michigan.
Here’s a few Tennessee regular season wrap-up notes in advance of the playoffs:
-After running for a career-best 178 yards against Vanderbilt and setting a school-single season rushing record, Dylan Sampson took the high road when asked about being snubbed as a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, which is given annually to the top running back in college football.
“Stuff like that, you can’t let it (define) you,” he said. “I know what I do week in and week out on the field. Shout out to the people that they picked. I like their games. But I know what I bring to the table. There’ll be people who recognize that.”
Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson were chosen as the three finalists. Sampson’s 22 touchdowns are second only to Jeanty among running backs.
Along with the TDs, Sampson finished the regular season as the SEC leader in rushing yards (1,485, 123.8 yards-per-game average), rushing attempts (256), all-purpose yards (1,630) and 100-yard games (10).
-Reaching 10 victories continues to be an impressive achievement, one that hasn’t been diminished by expanded schedules. If anything, college football’s competitive growth has added significance to the milestone.
With Saturday’s victory at Vanderbilt, Tennessee reached the mark in the regular season for the 15th time in program history. The Vols reached the mark in 1993 by virtue of Alabama forfeiting a victory over UT during that season.
Coach Josh Heupel has directed the Vols to 10 victories in the regular season twice in the past three seasons, joining Phillip Fulmer and Robert Neyland as the only UT coaches to achieve the feat multiple times. Fulmer and Neyland each did it five times.
One more item for the 10-win file: redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava became the first quarterback to lead Tennessee to the victory milestone in the regular season since Casey Clausen led UT to a 10-2 record during his senior season in 2003.
-Tennessee’s 30 victories in the past three seasons is its best three-year run since winning 30 from 1998-2000.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.