With a dominant 45-24 win over rival Tennessee to end the regular season, Vanderbilt is in excellent position to make its first College Football Playoff appearance. However, that is not how the AP poll sees it, as the Commodores were somehow demoted in the latest college football top 25 rankings update.

The weekly AP poll was released on Sunday, and Vanderbilt dropped from No. 12 to No. 13 in a puzzling move. The AP rankings do not hold as much weight at this point in the season as the College Football Playoff rankings do, but the shift was still notable, given the magnitude of the Commodores' victory.

Vanderbilt was bumped down to swap places with Miami, which moved up one spot. The Hurricanes entered the top 12 after dominating Pittsburgh in their final regular season game to improve to 10-2.

Vanderbilt entered the rivalry game as a slight underdog, which only added to the impressive nature of the victory. The 21-point thrashing also marked head coach Clark Lea's first win over his in-state rival, and the Commodores' first win over Tennessee since 2018.

If the AP top 25 determined the College Football Playoffs, that down shift would bump Vanderbilt below the threshold, pending the results of the conference championship games. The ‘Dores ended the regular season with their first 10-win season in program history, but were still out of reach of the SEC title game.

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Vanderbilt's historic win over Tennessee

Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia (2) runs against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half at Neyland Stadium.
Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Regardless of what the rankings indicate, Vanderbilt's Week 14 win over Tennessee put a stamp on the best season in program history. The Commodores broke multiple program records with the win while ending a dreaded losing streak to the Volunteers.

The win also bolstered the Heisman campaign of Diego Pavia, who led Vanderbilt to the win with 268 passing yards, 165 rushing yards and two total touchdowns. Pavia is now very much in the running for the most prestigious award in college football. Even if he does not win it, the veteran quarterback will almost certainly finish higher in the final voting than any other player in school history.

Vanderbilt's big win over Tennessee has them in lockstep with Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Texas as the SEC teams vying for a College Football Playoff bid. Ole Miss is the biggest wild card of the group after losing Lane Kiffin to LSU, and could fall out of the picture entirely, depending on the result of the SEC Championship Game.