Tennessee has arguably the best-case scenario for its College Football Playoff hopes

With how dominant they looked during rivalry week vs. Vanderbilt, it is no surprise that Tennessee has essentially punched its ticket into the College Football Playoff. With the 36-23 road victory in Nashville to improve to 10-2 (6-2) on the season, Tennessee is one of eight teams with a 90-percent or better chance of making it into the College Football Playoff, according to ESPN's trusty FPI metric.

Outside of most favored teams during rivalry weekend, Tennessee did not play with its Thanksgiving leftovers when it mattered most. Since they lost the head-to-head with Georgia previously, the Dawgs will be the team facing Texas in the SEC Championship. All signs point to Tennessee easily being a top-10 seed in the playoff. If they get a home playoff game, great. If not, it is not a huge deal.

Unless you really love you some Oregon, is there a truly great team in the playoff field this year? I think that serves a team like Tennessee that plays great defense and has a quarterback gaining confidence with every passing week. I don't know if Tennessee has what it takes yet to win a national title, but the Volunteers certainly have the ability to win multiple playoff games in this new format.

If there are seven teams that are essentially locks to make the playoff, Tennessee is one of them.

For more Rivalry Week content, check out FanSided’s Ultimate Guide to College Football Rivalries, an in-depth and interactive look at the deep traditions, rich history, iconic venues and memorable moments of college football’s biggest rivalries.

Tennessee is hands down one of the biggest winners of rivalry week

Right now, the SEC is almost certainly getting three teams in, maybe four if the cards break in their favor. Georgia and Texas are not going to be punished for losing the SEC Championship Game. For Georgia, yes, it would be the Dawgs' third loss, but they already one the regular-season matchup over Texas. For the Longhorns, they only have one loss on the season, and that was to Georgia in Austin.

Tennessee is probably not going to be seeded any higher than No. 7, but I feel incredibly comfortable in saying that the Volunteers will be making the playoff. Along with Georgia and Texas, I would say that teams like Oregon, Penn State, Notre Dame and Indiana are locks as well, with teams like Ohio State and SMU being very, very close to being locks at this point. There are only 12 spots to be had, folks...

The last big wrinkle is what happens if three-loss Clemson were to somehow beat one-loss SMU in the ACC Championship. The Tigers would get in, but there are no guarantees the Mustangs would. Miami is probably out anyway, but the Hurricanes still have a shot in with some more chaos. As far as other SEC teams on the fringe, what about South Carolina, Ole Miss or Alabama? Oh, it will be wild!

All I know is Tennessee is one of the four safest locks to make the playoff after the rivalry week chaos.