The Miracle In Athens and The Vols SEC title chances

I hope all of you watched Saturday's game between Tennessee and Georgia. I really do. This game was quintessential SEC football and was arguably the greatest display of the sports' unpredictability. The game included a wild ass finish that had me going from pure excitement after Tennessee recovered a fumble in the end zone to get their first lead late in the fourth quarter, to pure misery and possibly some profanity laced tirades after Jacob Eason completed a 47 yard bomb to an open receiver with ten ticks on the clock to give UGA the lead, to eventually circling the emotional wagon back to pure joy and probably scaring the hell out of my entire apartment complex after Jauan Jennings caught the prayer of a hail mary pass from Josh Dobbs to pull off the improbable W.

This game was more than just that. It had serious SEC East title implications. This win for the Vols gives them victories over their only real challengers in the division (Florida and Georgia) and more importantly, gives them a two game lead over the Bulldogs as well. Tennessee now has a secure stranglehold on the SEC East, regardless of whatever happens between their games against Texas A&M and Alabama. All the Vols have to do now is not lose any games outside of these next two weeks. This should be easily manageable considering the back half of their schedule features a cup cake game at home against Tennessee Tech, a road game against 2-3 South Carolina, home games against Kentucky and Missouri (both teams posting an intimidating combined record of 1-4 in conference play), and then concluding the regular season on the road in Nashville against Vanderbilt, a team that has only posted wins against MTSU and Western Kentucky by an average margin of victory being a whopping 12 points. The path to Atlanta for the Vols is clear as day and all they have to do is play as they are expecting...which means cutting out the whole playing down to your competition BS they pulled against App State and Ohio. Florida and Georgia still have to play each other and Florida still has to play LSU at home as well as play 16th ranked Arkansas on the road. Even in the event of a three way tie between our popular SEC East foes, Tennessee holds a clear, head to head tie breaker.

Tennessee can make a big splash on the national scene now as well. Now that they have finally earned their top ten ranking after previously falling out following the embarrassing showing against Appalachian State, they have back to back Saturday dates against two top ten teams. I should also add that these aren't just nationally ranked top ten teams but they are, in my honest opinion, the two best teams in the entire Southeastern Conference. If Tennessee really wants to show the country what it's got, now is the time to prove it. Tennessee can prove the legitimacy of the SEC East by winning at least one of these two games. The Vols need to learn how to actually come out of the gates strong if they want to make this dream a reality. Even though they have bounced back and won games in which their largest deficits in each game were, 10, 14, 21, and 17, the luck will finally wear off at some point. The Vols have only played one game out of their first five in which they did not trail by at least 10 points, yet, they are 5-0. That alone is slightly absurd and mind blowing how they keep pulling wins out of thin air and seemingly turning on a switch to take over these games when the going gets tough. Thats an important team aspect and all but if you keep messing around with fire you'll eventually get burnt. Texas A&M won't give up a 20 point lead when they play at home. They just won't, Trevor Knight is too experienced and too good of a quarterback and the Aggies are on of only a handful of teams that can match UT's talent level on any given Saturday. The same is easily said by Alabama, or literally any non NFL team that Nick Saban has ever coached (LOL to when he tried to coach the Dolphins, classic). When you win 5 national championships and are constantly producing NFL talent in bulk, that whole choking away 21 point leads bullshit just won't happen. Besides, lord knows what would happen to Lane Kiffen's body if Tennessee was somehow able to pull a win. 

All of that aside, Tennessee has shown they can play with a chip on their shoulder when down big and find ways to win, but can they do it the whole game? That's the important question. As for my pick of the game this week, I like Texas A&M to win 24-22 with a field goal at the horn. Let's just hope my dumb ass is wrong again.

@E_Campbell3