The Tennessee Vols are currently slated to play on the road against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff. 

Tennessee is ranked one spot below Ohio State in the latest playoff rankings. The final rankings will be revealed after conference championship games are played this weekend. 

The Vols have a case to be ranked above Ohio State. Tennessee was undefeated at home this season while the Buckeyes lost to an unranked Michigan team in Columbus this past weekend (Ohio State was favored by three scores). 

Tennessee is currently ranked above Ohio State in the AP Top 25 poll. The top 11 of the AP Top 25 and the top 11 of the College Football Playoff rankings are identical except for Tennessee and Ohio State flipping spots. 

College Football Playoff committee chairman Warde Manuel was asked on Tuesday night why Ohio State was ranked above Tennessee. 

Manuel provided a nonsensical answer that provided little to no clarity on the committee’s thought process. 

“Yeah, very similar resumes,” said Manuel when asked about Ohio State and Tennessee. “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.” 

Manuel’s final point was that there was “a lot of conversation” in the outcome of the vote?

I mean, that’s his answer? That the committee talked a lot about it but ultimately put Ohio State ahead because….they just did? 

The top 12 rankings have been a complete disaster from the start. I get that the committee is in a tough spot — there’s not much that separates most of these teams. And it’s all based on opinion. But the stunning lack of consistency while ranking teams — essentially using data from all over the place — is what’s most concerning about the process. The fact that Manuel hasn’t been able to deliver any good answers for the reasoning behind their rankings isn’t a surprise, but it’s certainly frustrating.