​Tennessee Volunteers fans who feel like the program was screwed out of a home College Football Playoff game are feeling justified this week.The Tennessee Vols deserved to host a College Football Playoff game in 2024.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat was true two years ago, and it feels even more true now after some college football news that dropped this week.Tennessee had a legitimate argument to host a playoff game in 2024. The Vols needed to beat out four teams: Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, and Penn State.When you actually broke down the resumes, Tennessee’s case was arguably the strongest.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOhio State had two wins against playoff teams in Indiana and Penn State, but neither of those opponents had a signature win of their own. The Buckeyes lost to Oregon (No. 1 in playoff rankings) on the road early and then lost at home to Michigan (a 7-5 team). Tennessee, meanwhile, lost to Arkansas (a 6-6 team) on the road and lost to Georgia (No. 2 in the final playoff rankings) on the road. The Vols were undefeated at home and Ohio State wasn’t (the two teams had very similar losses otherwise). I think that matters — especially when the conversation is about who deserves to host a playoff game.Notre Dame had the worst loss in college football that year, falling at home to Northern Illinois. Texas didn’t have a single win against a team that finished ranked in the final playoff rankings. And Penn State’s best win was against Illinois (Tennessee’s best win was against 9-3 Alabama, which finished No. 11 in the final playoff rankings — meaning the Vols kept them out, essentially).AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI think it’s fair to assume that the reason Tennessee didn’t host was because Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel was the chairman of the playoff committee.And in subsequent years, it’s become clear that Manuel had no business being on that committee, let alone chairing it.Manuel is on the verge of losing his job amid a wave of scandals and a $12 million investigation. The University of Michigan Board of Regents is meeting later this week in Traverse City to determine Manuel’s fate. And the fact that this is the guy who served as the point man in the room when Tennessee was denied a home playoff game should make every Vols fan furious all over again.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe SEC hosted one playoff game in 2024: Texas against Clemson. The Big Ten hosted two: Penn State against SMU and Ohio State against Tennessee. I don’t want to call it a conspiracy theory, but the optics are hard to ignore. You had a sitting Big Ten athletic director operating as the committee chairman. You had an SEC team in Tennessee that was, on paper, deserving. The Vols didn’t get to host, but the Big Ten teams whose cases were more questionable (or at best a coin flip) got the nod.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAt the time, Manuel claimed that they didn’t base the rankings on p