Why Tennessee is rising, Miami is falling and Ohio State, Texas and Clemson are steady in the College Football Playoff race.

ESPN College Football Playoff reporter Heather Dinich has projected Miami to make the CFP with the No. 11 seed

If we get the chance to go in the playoff, we’re gonna make the most of it. We don’t care if we’re a top-eight seed or we’re the 12th seed. In the playoffs, it’s anybody’s chance. We just hope we can get a shot.

The College Football Playoff field is mostly set. The bubble isn’t very big, but the central debate heading into the conference championship games seems clear: Will the committee elect to place three-loss Alabama into the field ahead of two-loss Miami — or even SMU if the Mustangs lose the ACC title game against Clemson?

Ohio State, Miami and Clemson were riding high in the rankings headed into the final weekend of the regular season. Then disaster struck.

With their 42-38 loss to Syracuse on Saturday, the Miami Hurricanes seemed to have eliminated themselves from College Football Playoff contention. Ranked No. 6 heading into the weekend, a win would have secured Miami a spot in the ACC Championship Game against SMU with a strong case for a playoff berth.