Tennessee climbs to No. 13 in ESPN's SP+ ratings after a chaotic Week 7

Tennessee's win over Alabama earned the Volunteers a bump in ESPN's SP+ ratings, though maybe not as big a one as fans expected. In Bill Connelly's updated top 25 after Week 7, Tennessee rose two spots to No. 13 with a 17.5 rating, carrying a 6-1 record into the heart of the season.

The movement came after a weekend that scrambled the national picture, with five of the top seven teams in the previous week's AP Poll losing. Ohio State held onto the No. 1 spot in SP+ and Georgia stayed at No. 2, while teams like Missouri tumbled and Wake Forest surged after the Week 7 results shook loose.

The detail Tennessee fans will circle is the team sitting directly in front of them. Alabama, the team the Vols just beat 26-10, remains one spot ahead at No. 12 with an 18.5 rating. SP+ is a predictive measure that weighs efficiency and opponent strength rather than simply rewarding head-to-head results, so a win does not automatically leapfrog the loser, but the ordering still stings a little in Knoxville.

Even so, No. 13 keeps Tennessee on the fringe of the metric's top tier while the traditional polls have the Vols higher, at No. 11 in the AP Poll. The simplest way to close that one-spot gap with the Tide is the one in front of them: keep winning, starting with the trip to South Carolina.