Tennessee football is ranked No. 13 in the first College Football Playoff poll of the 2026 season, released on Nov. 3.

The CFP selection committee ranked the Top 25 teams for the 12-team playoff format. The rankings will be updated each Tuesday with the final CFP field announced on Dec. 6.

Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC) plays Kentucky (7-1, 5-1) at Neyland Stadium on Nov. 7 (6:15 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Vols are ranked No. 16 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25, which were released Nov. 1.

Kentucky is ranked No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Tennessee likely needs a 10-2 record to make the playoff. There’s also a chance that 9-3 could be good enough, but that possibility also would require a win over Kentucky.

The 12-team CFP field will include automatic bids for the Power 4 conference champions (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC); an automatic bid for the highest ranked Group of Six team (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, Sun Belt), regardless of whether it's a conference champion; and at-large bids to the seven highest ranked remaining teams.

Seeds 5 through 12 will have first-round matchups. Seeds 5 through 8 will host a first-round game on campus sites.

College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings

  1. Miami (8-0)
  2. Georgia (7-1)
  3. Utah (8-0)
  4. Indiana (8-1)
  5. Alabama (6-2)
  6. Kentucky (7-1)
  7. Texas (6-2)
  8. UCLA (8-0)
  9. BYU (7-1)
  10. Ole Miss (6-2)
  11. Notre Dame (7-1)
  12. Ohio State (6-2)
  13. Tennessee (6-2)
  14. LSU (6-2)
  15. Texas Tech (7-1)
  16. Wake Forest (7-1)
  17. Houston (6-2)
  18. Missouri (6-2)
  19. Iowa (6-2)
  20. USC (7-2)
  21. South Carolina (5-3)
  22. Arizona (6-2)
  23. Oregon (5-3)
  24. Florida (5-3)
  25. Boise State (7-1)

College Football Playoff selection committee: Hunter Yurachek (chair, Arkansas athletics director); Troy Dannen (Nebraska athletics director), Mark Dantonio (former Michigan State, Cincinnati coach); Doug Gillin (Appalachian State athletics director); Mark Harlan (Utah athletics director); Ivan Maisel (former sportswriter); Gus Malzahn (former Auburn, Arkansas State, UCF coach); Chris Massaro (Middle Tennessee athletics director); Randall McDaniel (former Arizona State All-American player); Mike Riley (former Oregon State, Nebraska coach); Jeff Tedford (former California, Fresno State coach); Wesley Walls (former Ole Miss All-American player); Carla Williams (Virginia athletics director).

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Where Tennessee football ranks in first CFP poll, see full playoff list

Source: Yahoo Sports