*A man struggling with sciatica. Credit: sodiumchannels.com*

By Cody McClure

Well, if you haven’t heard yet — you have because I’ve bitched about it literally all week — I’m down with the sciatica.

Florida, man. Not Florida man. I mean Florida, man. The Gators sure do take it out of us, don’t they?

On Saturday I continued my streak of attendance for every Tennessee-Florida home game since 2012. Not counting 2020, of course — a difficult time for us all.

And I paid the price. Monday was probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt while trying to sleep. Woke up in agony at least three times. Somehow or another I triggered some horrendous nerve pain, which I attribute to all the jumping up and down on Saturday.

It has been a difficult week. If you are the praying type, please pray that I do not succumb to this terrible illness known as sciatica.

Again, I blame it on the Gators. My buddy Miles has been down with the gout again, and I know several others who have been sick this week. Even Jackie Boy, who I consider to be quite healthy, has been down.

Gators. Hell, two years ago I got in a fist fight after the Florida game and that wasn’t nearly as bad as this sciatica. Do you or someone you know struggle with sickness/injury due to the Florida game? Let me know.

Anyway. Here’s what I’m looking at in Week 8.

5. Why couldn’t Dan Lanning keep his mouth shut?

You had them by the balls, Dan. Why let the cat out of the bag?

In case you missed it, Lanning and the Oregon Ducks used an unconventional loophole in the rule book against Ohio State which ultimately helped them win the game last weekend.

The Oregon defense was called for an illegal substitution penalty in the final seconds of the 32-31 win. Lanning sent a 12th man on the field and wasted time that Ohio State could have spent moving the ball.

It appeared to be a genius move.

But then on Monday, Big Dan bragged about it. Did he just desperately need us to know how smart he was? He should have never said anything!

Now the NCAA has closed the loophole that the Ducks used to burn clock. Dan and the Ducks could have used that strategy again in a key situation. Not anymore.

“In a release Wednesday, the NCAA issued a new rules interpretation on how to handle a penalty for 12 players on the field in the final two minutes of either half.

If the defense has 12 players actively participate in the down, the offense can choose, along with the 5-yard penalty, to have the game clock reset to the time that had been displayed at the snap.”

Way to go, Dan.

4. Miami at Louisville

It’s about time for Miami to lose. In fact, it’s past time.

The Hurricanes have a difficult test this week at Louisville. To me, this is the most interesting game outside the SEC this week.

Miami has been advancing by the skin of their teeth this season. They get down to teams they’re better than, then come back ultimately to win these games. They did it against Virginia Tech and they did it against Cal.

It’s all fool’s gold. Remember 2016 Tennessee? How could you forget?

Tennessee would get down and then come back. A lot of swings. A lot of ebbs and flows. But ultimately, we were frauds.

I think that’s this Miami team. It’s time for an L.

I’m planning on taking an extended vacation to Miami sometime this winter. It is warm there.

Don’t worry, I’m not leaving the show again. But I’d like to spend a couple weeks down there. If I can swing it. Who knows. Beautiful Spanish women and the best Cuban food in the world not in Cuba.

*America’s best Cuban restaurant. Empanadas to die for. Credit: miamiandbeaches.com*

3. LSU at Arkansas

Miami hasn’t lost yet, and I think it’s about time. LSU has already lost once, and I think it’s about time again.

The Bayou Bengals were fortunate to survive in a couple of games against South Carolina and Ole Miss.

Now they’ll have to travel into Fayetteville for a night game against a better-than-we-thought Arkansas Razorbacks squad.

I don’t need to remind anybody about what happened the last time Arkansas hosted a Top 10 conference opponent at night.

I was there with my clown makeup on. It sucked!

The Arkansas defense seems to have gotten better, and I think they’re going to give LSU a ton of problems. This will be a close, hard-fought contest. But I expect Arkansas to win the battle for the golden boot.

The Hogs will be motivated, too. Any Arkansas fan will tell you that LSU is their one true rival in the SEC.

This game used to be a fun tradition on Black Friday, but like everything else in college football, that has changed.

And I tell you what else has changed — the Bottoms Up strip joint in Fayetteville. I met the love of my life, Brandy, there back in 2012. Now some 12 years later, I can confirm that Brandy is nowhere to be found. The elderly woman with an oxygen tank no longer works the cash register, either.

She may have died.

2. Georgia at Texas

Does Texas officially run the SEC?

If the Longhorns haven’t proven it already, a win against Georgia would leave no doubt. To many, this is the SEC game of the year.

Texas just beat me for a national championship on the NCAA College Football 25 game, so they’re on my shit list.

In fact, the recent loss caused me to take up vaping. I never thought I would be a vapist, but the stress of trying to stop the Horns offense made me seek alternative medicine. What ever happened to smoking cigarettes?

I also never thought I would be a Zyn user when I dipped Copenhagen Wintergreen, but here we are. I now use Zyn and vape. What’s next? Will I stop drinking beer and turn to hard seltzers? Doubtful.

Georgia will be Texas’ toughest test thus far, clearly, but I think it is also quite clear that Texas is the better team. I’m taking the Longhorns to win and cover 3.5 in Austin.

Great. Something else for Texans to feel superior about. Assholes.

Nonetheless, I can’t in good faith pick the Georgia Bulldogs to go on the road and win this game.

*Tucker Carlzyn. Credit: knowyourmeme.com*

1. The Third Saturday in October

Is it college football’s greatest game? Perhaps an overstatement, generally, but it was two years ago.

This is the closest spread for a Tennessee-Alabama game since at least 2007.

We actually go into this one feeling like Tennessee not only has a chance to win, but SHOULD win. Remember all those times we just had to pencil this in as an L? Not anymore.

Make no mistake, it’s going to be a fight.

Tennessee is strong on defense, Alabama is strong on offense. Tennessee is subpar on offense, Alabama is subpar on defense. The strengths match the weaknesses.

The three things we’ve got going for us this week are the defense, the home crowd, and Dylan Sampson. Those three things won us the Florida game with below average quarterback play.

This ain’t Florida. It’s Alabama. We’re going to need Nico to be above average in this game. Will he be more comfortable in the pocket? Will he avoid turning the ball over? Will he have the time/accuracy to hit a couple deep balls?

The Vols need these things to happen. Our defense is elite, but it can’t win us this game alone.

This has the potential to be college football’s game of the week, even with Texas and Georgia playing. The winner will be in good shape to make the playoff.

GBO.

Cody’s ‘Five Things I’m Looking At’ Week 8

Three Things Tennessee Must Do to Beat Alabama

Questions Ahead of Week 8 of SEC Football