Insider Brett McMurphy predicts Tennessee will make the College Football Playoff

It's been a great run for the Tennessee Volunteers, and they've got a shiny new No. 3 ahead of their name as a result of beating Alabama this past weekend.

The Vols are the talk of the college football "town", so it's no surprise that Tennessee is all of a sudden a hot pick for those making end-of-season predictions.

But Tennessee in the College Football Playoff? Mind you, this is a program that hasn't won the SEC since 1998.

That fact apparently doesn't matter to college football insider Brett McMurphy, though. In fact, McMurphy can see the Vols riding this hot streak all the way to the CFP. 

In his weekly college bowl game projections, McMurphy has Tennessee meeting up with Georgia in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the two CFP semifinal games.

He's even predicting the Vols to lose to UGA earlier in the season, yet they still end up in the CFP. Here's how per McMurphy.

"While Tennessee’s upset of Alabama reduced the Crimson Tide’s margin of error to make another trip to the College Football Playoff, UT’s win does create an unprecedented possibility regarding the SEC. That is that not one, not two, but three SEC teams could make the four-team playoff. Do I think it’s highly likely? No. However, so you’re saying there’s a chance? Well …," McMurphy wrote.

"Here’s how. Tennessee loses a close game at Georgia next month and finishes the season 11-1. Georgia loses to Alabama in the SEC title game, and both the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide finish at 12-1."

McMurphy thinks Tennessee will only fall to Georgia this season, but No. 19 Kentucky may have something to say about that a week before in Knoxville.

However it plays out, though, the Volunteers obviously proved themselves as a CFP competitor this season by beating the Crimson Tide.