This past Saturday, Tennessee football couldn’t get out of its own way and lost at South Carolina. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Vols won’t be in the College Football Playoffs, though. With four games left, UT can run the table and almost certainly be in the bracket.

To help visualize where the playoff race stands, The Fourth Quarter posted a graph on X to give a clear view. It’s separated into tiers, with the top tier being clinched, next being safe, then thin margin, then run the table and beyond until it gets to eliminated.

Currently, no teams are in the clinched or safe categories. With so many wild results in the SEC and Big Ten, just eight teams are in the thin margin tier, too, which is reserved for teams that should be able to get an at-large bid even with one more loss.

Tennessee is in the run the table tier. That’s exactly what it sounds like. With two losses already, the expectation is that the Vols will need to win their final quartet of games to be in the playoffs.

🔔#CFB PLAYOFF TRACKER – UPDATE🔔

Week 8 in the books – CHAOS

85 teams eliminated❌
53 teams still in contention✅
The way this season is going… Life Support is still very much alive https://t.co/2S8XYnZBLM

— The Fourth Quarter (@4thQuarterCFB00) October 25, 2026

It’s not out of the question that Tennessee will be able to pull that off, too. The Vols are on a bye week this week before hosting Kentucky next Saturday. The Wildcats only have one loss, placing them in the thin margin tier.

Then, Tennessee goes on the road to play a struggling Texas A&M. The Aggies are already in the eliminated category with losses stacking up, meaning UT could get a team that is starting to limp toward the finish line.

The following week, it’s a game at home against LSU, which also owns two losses and is going to need to win out. If both teams win their games up until that clash, it could essentially become a playoff game.

Finally, Tennessee plays Vanderbilt on the road. The Commodores are having a dramatic falloff from last season and are in the eliminated tier.