Tennessee Football fell nine spots in the Week 11 AP Poll on Sunday afternoon after the Vols dropped a home game to Oklahoma on Saturday night in Neyland Stadium. The loss to the Sooners was Tennessee’s third defeat of the season and the second time that the Vols have dropped in the rankings.
Tennessee went from No. 14 to No. 23 in the Week 11 AP Poll.
The AP Poll won’t be in use much longer, though. The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings will officially release on Tuesday, Nov. 4, setting up the new ranking method that will be used on television and in print for the remainder of the season.
Tennessee’s AP Poll spot is one lower than its ranking in the Week 10 Coaches Poll.
More From RTI: Tennessee Defensive Back Boo Carter Did Not Play a Defensive Snap vs. Oklahoma
Here’s a look at Tennessee’s AP Poll history so far this season:
- Week 1: No. 24
- Week 2: No. 22
- Week 3: No. 15
- Week 4: No. 15
- Week 5: No. 15
- Week 6: No. 15
- Week 7: No. 12
- Week 8: No. 11
- Week 9: No. 17
- Week 10: No. 14
- Week 11: No. 23
Tennessee is the ninth highest-ranked team from the SEC in this week’s poll, trailing No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia, No. 7 Ole Miss, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas, No. 15 Vanderbilt, and No. 19 Missouri.
The big picture takeaway from Tennessee’s loss to Oklahoma is that the Vols’ playoff chances have completely plummeted after sustaining their third loss of the season. If Tennessee had won on Saturday, it would’ve set Tennessee up to compete in the final three games with a ranked win under its belt and only two losses. Now, though, Tennessee is stuck in a tough position. Even if a three-loss team did make the playoffs, it feels hard to believe that Tennessee would be in significant consideration with only one ranked win (against Vanderbilt in the hypothetical 9-3 scenario).
Tennessee opened the season with back-to-back wins over Syracuse and East Tennessee State before dropping a game to Georgia in Week 3. The Vols then rallied with three straight wins over UAB, Mississippi State, and Arkansas, but have since lost two of their last three to Alabama and Oklahoma. A win over Kentucky was sandwiched between the Crimson Tide game and the Sooners game.
Tennessee is facing its second and final open date this upcoming weekend before the final stretch of the season. The Vols will host New Mexico State, play at Florida, and host Vanderbilt in the final three weeks of the regular season slate.
“Ultimately, we’re not in control of any of those things,” head coach Josh Heupel said about the bigger picture after the loss on Saturday night. “We’re in control of what we do. Disappointed. Thought they prepared extremely hard. There’s some things that were really good defensively early tonight. I thought they played really good football. Got a choice to make. Life, how you going to respond? This group has competed, continued to try to get better every day. Expect and demand that as we get going here on the back end of the season.”
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football coverage in the final stretch of the season.
