Tennessee Football: Vols Can Still Win SEC East Title

Although the Tennessee football team has a 3-4 record, the SEC East Division Championship is still very much in play. Here is how the Volunteers can win it.

They are 3-4 on the season and a mere 1-3 in the conference.

But, surprisingly, the Tennessee Vols are somehow in the race to win SEC East. And believe it or not, they have a very good shot.

How can they do this?

Clay Travis broke it down here in his Sunday article.

Let’s start with Butch Jones’s team and what they have to do. Tennessee has to win out to stay alive. Not only is that extremely possible; it’s extremely likely.

The Vols finish their conference slate at Kentucky, at home against South Carolina, at Missouri, and at home against Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks and Commodores are horrible and reeling. They are both terrible away from home.

The Wildcats have woken up, and Tennessee owns them mentally. The Tigers, meanwhile, have not scored an offensive touchdown in three games. Are we to believe that the Vols should not win all of these games? Of course they should.

That would get them to 8-4 and 5-3 in the conference.

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If Tennessee made it to that record, only two teams would be standing in their way: Florida and Georgia. The Bulldogs already have two conference losses, one to Tennessee. The Gators, meanwhile, have one. So what has to happen is for both teams to get to three losses and for there to be a three-way tie.

One quick way to that is Georgia beating Florida. Both teams would then have two conference losses, and the head-to-head advantage between the three schools would be even: Tennessee beat Georgia, Georgia beat Florida, and Florida beat Tennessee.

So to be clear, that absolutely has to happen. But with Treon Harris now in for Will Grier at quarterback, isn’t that expected now? Florida not only could lose to Georgia; to many, they should lose.

After Georgia beats Florida, the two big upsets have to happen. Both teams have to slip up just one more time each.

The next week, Gators host the Vanderbilt Commodores while the Bulldogs host the Kentucky Wildcats. Both are likely wins, but you never know.

But the date Vols fans should circle, if they are able to win out and Georgia beats Florida, is Nov. 14.

Tennessee hosts North Texas that day, and that will be the third biggest game for them that day.

Florida, meanwhile, will be traveling to South Carolina. While the Gamecocks are awful, this is clearly a Florida team that is not deep, and this South Carolina team still has talent. Are we to believe that the Gamecocks have no chance against a Gators team that does not have its quarterback, started the year unranked, and still has plenty of gaping holes? No.

Florida could easily lose that game.

Meanwhile, after hosting Kentucky, Georgia has to travel to the plains to take on the Auburn Tigers. Auburn may have under-achieved early on this year, but they still have lots of young talent that could come together at any time. And in a rivalry game, you never know what can happen. So it is very possible to think Auburn wins that game.

If the Tigers and Gamecocks both win, Saturday, Nov. 14 could go down as one of the greatest college football days in history for Vols fans. Both teams would fall to three conference losses, and Tennessee, if they do win out, would be locked in a three-way tie with the other two for the SEC East.

Guess what the tiebreaker is: divisional record.

If that happens, Florida will have two SEC East losses, which knocks them out of contention. Tennessee and Georgia will have one division loss apiece and a 5-3 record. And Tennessee gets the head-to-head tiebreaker.

At that point, they would head to Atlanta.

This sounds shocking to think about, but when you consider how bad the SEC East has looked this year, it’s not out of left field. This isn’t some random mathematical way the Vols could win the East.

It is a legitimate shot that they have. But the first step is this Saturday. They have to win, and Georgia has to win. If those two things happen, this race could get very interesting.

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Although the Tennessee football team has a 3-4 record, the SEC East Division Championship is still very much in play. Here is how the Volunteers can win it.

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