A series of events could put the Tennessee Vols football team back in the SEC East race. But the Volunteers have to beat the Crimson Tide on Saturday first.
Over the past 23 years, the Tennessee-Alabama game has shifted to being more about the rivalry itself than the SEC implications.
That changes this Saturday.
Alabama is obviously in the SEC West race, but if they lose to Tennessee over the weekend, then there will be three teams ahead of them and in complete control of their own destinies. So the Tide cannot afford to lose this one.
That part you knew, though. The shocking part is that it may also apply to the Tennessee Vols.
Despite a 2-3 start, a current 1-2 conference record, and a loss to the Florida Gators, the Volunteers re actually not out of the SEC East race. And beating the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday will keep them alive.
They would still need a lot of things to happen, but it’s not beyond the pale that they could.
For starters, Tennessee needs to win out. Doing that would get them to 6-2 in the conference and 9-3 overall. After that, to simply maintain a tie, Vols fans have got to pull for Georgia to win out as well. In that process, they would obviously beat Florida.
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At that point, all three teams would be 6-2, and there would be a three-way tie between Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida at the very least.
If all three teams are 6-2, the rankings will determine who goes, and quite honestly that will likely be Florida or Georgia. But at least Tennessee is in the running at that point. The next step is for Florida to slip up somewhere else.
Hey, while they did play the LSU Tigers tough, part of that was just mistakes on LSU’s part. With a loss, who knows how their momentum will swing now?
And if they lose to Georgia, they might not care as much about the year.
A demoralized team with Treon Harris at quarterback who is not nearly as good as they and others think they are could easily lose a road game to the South Carolina Gamecocks, which is still on this team’s schedule. We are not counting Vanderbilt at home as a potential loss.
But if all of this happens, Tennessee could be the team marching to Atlanta over anybody else.
The first step, though, is going to be the hardest, and it happens this weekend.
The Vols have to beat the Tide.
Next: Five Reasons the Vols Will Upset Alabama in Tuscaloosa