Tennessee football: Vols continue slide in SEC Power Rankings after Week 8
2-2. Previous: . Tigers . 8. team. 817.
Defeated South Carolina Gamecocks 52-24
Well, coming off the unplanned bye, the LSU Tigers were able to look like the national championship team they were last year. We knew that this was a different team altogether, but they still had no business losing to the Mississippi State Bulldogs to open the season, and that gets more clear by the day. Losing to the Missouri Tigers only made it worse.
However, Ed Orgeron’s team rebounded and dominated a South Carolina Gamecocks team that hadn’t looked that bad all year. Even in its losses to Tennessee football and the Florida Gators, USC was in those games late in the fourth quarter. As a result, Orgeron deserves a ton of credit for the way his team played and managed to rebound.
Without Myles Brennan, T.J. Finley proved he could run the offense, and the backfield duo of Tyrion Davis-Price and John Emery Jr. proved that this team continues to have offensive weapons everywhere. Bo Pelini’s defense may have finally come alive as well with a pick-six.
Did these guys turn the corner? We’ll know soon enough. Up next for the Tigers is a visit to the Auburn Tigers, and the loser will likely fall out of the middle of the pack in the SEC. After that, they have another bye week before their epic showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide. They also still have the Texas A&M Aggies, Ole Miss Rebels, Florida Gators and the next team on this list.