All the Tennessee Volunteers had to do was root for a little bit of chaos and their ticket to the College Football Playoff would be punched. They went into Saturday’s game against South Carolina as a 22.5-point favorite and were going to be an even bigger favorite against Vanderbilt in Week 13. Instead, the Volunteers took themselves out of playoff contention with an ugly 63-38 loss on a day when the Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan Wolverines, USC Trojans and TCU Horned Frogs all barely survived their games.
Michigan and TCU needed last-second field goals over Illinois and Baylor, respectively, to stay undefeated. Ohio State beat Maryland by 13, but the game was hanging in the balance throughout and a last-second scoop-and-score for the Buckeyes made the final score look better than it was. USC won a back-and-forth game over UCLA by a 48-45 count to claim the Victory Bell.
Tennessee went into Week 12 around a -350 favorite to make the College Football Playoff. The loser of next week’s Ohio State vs. Michigan game would be out, freeing up a clear path for the Vols. USC had to beat UCLA, Notre Dame and win in the Pac-12 Championship Game against a to-be-determined opponent. TCU had to beat Baylor, Iowa State and then also take care of business in Arlington for the Big 12 Championship. Tennessee simply had to hold up as a heavy favorite and failed.
With the Volunteers now firmly out, the path is much clearer for a team like the Clemson Tigers, who need to beat South Carolina and the North Carolina Tar Heels in the ACC Championship Game to have a strong Playoff case at 12-1. A Tar Heels team that just lost at home to Georgia Tech on a day of carnage around college football. Now Clemson is the team that just needs to not screw up and hope for somebody else’s bubble to burst.