Tennessee's playoff path narrows after 27-24 loss at South Carolina
Tennessee let a late lead slip away Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, falling 27-24 to South Carolina in a result that sharply complicates its College Football Playoff outlook. The Volunteers, now 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, trailed 14-0 early before rallying to lead 24-17, but the Gamecocks tied the game with a 61-yard touchdown drive in the final four minutes. After Tennessee fumbled in the final minute, South Carolina, now 4-3 and 2-3 in league play, recovered and won it with a 48-yard field goal as time expired.
The defeat was as much about mistakes as the final sequence. Tennessee was flagged 12 times for 90 yards and had three touchdowns wiped out by penalties, errors that kept South Carolina within reach despite the comeback. Head coach Josh Heupel pointed afterward to the need to play smarter and to use the upcoming open date to get healthier and clean up those problems, noting that teams that reach the postseason are the ones that finish the season well. Quarterback George MacIntyre echoed that message, acknowledging that the Volunteers likely have no margin left and will need to improve during the bye week before the closing stretch.
That stretch leaves little room for another slip. Tennessee stayed at No. 12 in ESPN's Football Power Index after the loss, but its projected playoff chance fell to 23.1 percent, down from 45.4 percent a week earlier following the 26-10 win over Alabama. The remaining schedule begins Nov. 7 at Neyland Stadium against first-place Kentucky, which is 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC, then continues Nov. 14 at Texas A&M, followed by a Nov. 21 home game against LSU and the regular-season finale Nov. 28 at Vanderbilt.
The model still favors Tennessee in three of those four games, including a 66.9 percent chance against Kentucky and an 85.9 percent chance at Vanderbilt, but it puts the LSU game at just 35.5 percent and the trip to Texas A&M at 52.3 percent. With chaos elsewhere on Saturday, when six other ranked teams also lost, the race remains fluid, yet Tennessee's own position is clear. A second playoff appearance in program history, after the 2024 team earned a No. 9 seed at 10-2, will probably require winning all four games left on the schedule.