Tennessee sits at No. 9 in Josh Pate's latest JP Poll power ratings

Josh Pate has put out his newest JP Poll in advance of the Week 9 schedule, and Georgia occupies the top position coming out of its bye week. The Bulldogs are 6-1 overall and 4-1 in league play, and they held onto the model's favor even though their most recent outing ended in an upset loss to Auburn in Athens. Georgia's next test is a meeting with No. 17 Florida in Atlanta, where it will try to extend a run of five straight wins in that rivalry.

The JP Poll is not presented as a conventional power ranking. Instead, it orders teams by a power rating built around which side would be favored on a neutral field. This edition is heavy on the SEC, with 10 teams from the conference among the 25 listed and six of those 10 placed inside the top 10. Five Big Ten teams, five Big 12 teams, three ACC teams, Boise State from the Pac-12 and Notre Dame round out the group.

Behind Georgia, Notre Dame moved up to No. 2 at 6-1, followed by LSU at No. 3, Miami at No. 4 and Ohio State at No. 5. The Buckeyes dropped four spots from No. 1 after their own bye week, a slide tied in the report to uncertainty around quarterback Julian Sayin. Sayin hurt his throwing arm in Ohio State's win over Indiana, and head coach Ryan Day has said there is no timetable for his return, leaving freshman Luke Fahey in line to lead the Buckeyes against USC.

Tennessee checks in at No. 9, up one spot, with a 6-2 record and a 3-2 mark in SEC play. The Volunteers were coming off the high of a 26-10 victory over No. 6 Alabama in Knoxville two weeks ago before last Saturday's trip to South Carolina ended in a 27-24 defeat. Tennessee appeared to have that game in hand early in the fourth quarter, only to be outscored 10-0 over the final 1:17.

For Tennessee, the placement is a reminder that one damaging late collapse has not erased how the model views the team nationally. The Vols remain a top-10 side in these neutral-field ratings and one of six SEC teams in that range, even as their conference record shows how little margin they have left after the South Carolina loss.