Tennessee is paying how much to beat UTEP? Cost of Week 13 buy game

The No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers find themselves on the outside of the College Football Playoff after a sluggish 31-17 loss to Georgia in Week 12.

With just two games remaining, they need a win to stay alive in a tight SEC race. Enter the UTEP Miners out of Conference USA.

Tennessee is paying $1.6 million to the 2-8 team from El Paso, Texas to travel the nearly 1,500 miles and probably lose. With the Volunteers' season practically on the line going forward it looks like money well spent.

Tennessee's auto-win is much needed in tight SEC and CFP race

At 8-2, Tennessee sits in fourth in the SEC and desperately needs to win out (plus a little outside help) in order to make it to Atlanta for the conference championship game.

That path starts Saturday with a win over UTEP. After that, there's a tough but very winnable matchup against in-state rival Vanderbilt in Week 14.

The SEC only plays eight conference games in a season compared to nine for others like the Big Ten. That affords it an extra week to schedule easy non-conference matchups, especially since at least one week early in the season is typically reserved for a marquee matchup for each of its members.

This year, that was a 51-10 bludgeoning of a ranked NC State team that was clearly overrated in the preseason. Now, Tennessee gets to reap the reward of managing its early schedule and likely add a ninth win to its resume.

While it would be an unimpressive win in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee and wouldn't likely move it anywhere from its current positioning in the rankings, a win is a win and Tennessee needs one to bounce back.

A historic upset, however, would spell certain doom for the Volunteers and give fans an iconic moment on par with that of the legendary Appalachian State team of 2007.