re: Please help me understand why Bama outranks Tennessee.

Well here goes,

In the NFL teams are placed in divisions within conferences. There is a playoff structure that has rules based on win/loss records, division winners, head to head, etc. Those rules then dictate seeding and those teams then play in a single elimination tournament to determine a champion. Every team and fan knows the rules on getting into the playoff and how the seeding will occur before the season even starts.

But in college we have decided the best way to determine a champion is to get 13 people together in a room, each with their own idea of what the criteria should be to rank teams, then have those 13 people debate what the rankings should be.

Some years, conference championships are very important, some years they are not. Some years out of conference scheduling is very important, some years they are not. Some years the number of ranked teams you defeat are important, some years they are not. Some years head to head is important, some years they are not.

Also, in college football we change the make up of those 13 people every year, so new opinions can be brought in and new ideas on what is and isn't important.

This way the criteria and rules are always changing, which leads to uncertainty and anger, but also entertainment.