Tennessee football: Could playing playoff spoiler salvage season?
Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee football Volunteers have one thing left to play for.
It’s been a rough year for Tennessee football. Jeremy Pruitt’s third team is 2-5 and on a five-game losing streak. Sure, the unscheduled byes and COVID-related issues have changed everything, but that’s still a dramatic disappointment compared to what was expected of Pruitt.
As the Vols enter their December stretch, the best they can finish this regular season is .500, and that’s assuming they get to make up their game with the Vanderbilt Commodores. However, they have one thing they could play for: spoiling other team’s championship hopes.
The next two opponents for Tennessee football are the Florida Gators and Texas A&M Aggies, and they came in at No. 6 and No. 5 in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings respectively. While Florida is below A&M, the Gators do control their own destiny to reach the playoff.
Right now, UF is 7-1 and in first place in the SEC East. Winning out means going 9-1 and then winning the SEC title, which would undoubtedly vault them ahead of the Alabama Crimson Tide and likely either A&M or the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Related Story. Five previous seasons Vols played Florida in December. light
This Saturday, the Vols could ruin all of that if they pull off the upset. That would be extra sweet for Rocky Top given Vol Nation’s hatred of Florida. It does seem like an impossible task, but let’s be fair and say that this will be an unusually cold climate for the Gators, playing in Knoxville in December. They may not be used to that.
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Should the Vols pull off the miracle, they’ll then host the Aggies. A&M still has to get past the Auburn Tigers this week, and since their loss is to a divisional foe in the Alabama Crimson Tide, who are undefeated and first in the West, they still would need help to reach the top four.
However, there’s no doubt they’ll still be in contention when Jimbo Fisher faces his former defensive coordinator next Saturday if they can get past Auburn, and that will be another chance for Tennessee football to play spoiler. It would also be their first chance at a top five win since 2005, when they beat the LSU Tigers on the road.
Again, while Texas A&M is significantly better, don’t count out Pruitt’s ability to know the tendencies of his former boss and the fact that Knoxville will be an unusually cold climate for them as well. Nothing is impossible.
What happens if the Vols spoil both Florida’s and Texas A&M’s dream seasons over the next two weeks? They’ll be 4-5 with a chance to finish 5-5 if they do indeed face Vanderbilt on Dec. 19, a game they would easily be favored in.
At that point, however unconventional, they would have done exactly what they were expected to do at the beginning of the season, just replacing expected wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Arkansas Razorbacks with unexpected wins over Texas A&M and Florida. Those unexpected wins coming in December and allowing them to play spoiler would make it even sweeter.
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Simply put, Tennessee football isn’t out of the running to make some great memories this year just yet. They can’t play for any championship, and morale is extremely low. But there are still major opportunities in front of them.