THE DAY AFTER: TEXAS EL PASO (AND OTHER GAMES)
God I LOVE it when a plan comes together!
Well, we knew what the assignment was this weekend, as the Vols and their fan base experienced the freezing cold draft of what being left out of the College Football Playoffs would feel like. I mean, who really wants to go to The ReliaQuest Bowl…or The Vegas Bowl?!? That’s for the Missouri’s of the College Football world! We knew that the Vols needed to keep winning…and do it with authority…to stay in the CFP conversation, and then we would also need help…lots and lots of help in other games around the country!
But who really thought that just about everything the Vols needed to happen on Saturday…would actually happen?!? Be honest now…I sure didn’t…at least, not like this!
Tennessee Football. Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Cole Moore/Rocky Top Insider
Before the Vols started to take care of their business (more on that later), the games that had our primary attention on Saturday kicked off at noon, with #5 Indiana taking on #2 Ohio St., and #9 Ole Miss hunkering down in The Swamp to battle Florida. These were games where Vol fans needed to (uncharacteristically so) root for the Buckeyes and the Gators. Such is life in this new era of the College Football Playoffs. In Indiana-Ohio St., the Hoosiers took the lead early, and kept it close for about a quarter and a half…and then, water found its level…Ohio St. held a 14-7 lead at halftime. Then, in the 3rd quarter, that water not only found its level…it broke the levy, as Ohio St. increased the lead to 31-7 and absolutely stifled Indiana until late in the game when the Hoosiers scored a meaningless TD. The Buckeyes countered with a late TD of their own, leading to the final score of Ohio St. 38, Indiana 15. For a team that was 10-0 and had made light work of every middling to terrible team on their schedule, Indiana finally played a top tier team…and proved what most of us felt would happen…that the stage was too big for them. Need further proof beyond the final score? In the loss, Indiana was held to 83 net yards rushing and 68 net passing yards, the first time in this century that a Top 5 team was held to so few yards in each category in a regular season game. Simply put, we don’t need Google to tell us that Indiana’s not a real Top 5 team…maybe not even a Top 10 team. So, a big check mark to the right side on that necessary outcome for the Vols!
Then, there was Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss down in The Swamp. Rebs were a 10 point favorite, but Florida’s been different these past few weeks…they play hard for their Coach, their Freshman Quarterback D.J. Lagway is a revelation, and they’re playing for a Bowl bid…something that didn’t seem possible after their lifeless performance in their season opener against Miami. In short, at this point of the season, these Gators will stand their ground…and they won’t back down (yeah, I did that!). Florida took an early lead, but Ole Miss counterpunched, and at halftime, it was a 14-14 game. The score after 3 was 17 all, and then in the 4th quarter, Florida took the lead with 7ish minutes left to play, and then didn’t look back. They shut down Ole Miss, Rebel QB Jaxson Dart throws two picks in the quarter, and Florida holds on for a 24-17 win, sending Ole Miss to the gates of hell…which in the real College Football world means, maybe The Gator Bowl. So after Lane Kiffin wins the biggest game of his career against Georgia, he and his team blow a golden opportunity for a Playoff berth just two short weeks later. What can you say? He is who we thought he was!
So, another BIG check mark to the right side for Tennessee!
Tennessee is the center of the latest YouTube video from SEC Shorts. Photo via SEC Shorts on YouTube.
While all of that was occurring, we may have not paid attention to the Vols-UTEP game, which at the beginning looked like the Vols really DIDN’T deserve a Playoff spot! A pitiful first quarter by the boys, tied 0-0 after 1, and then an absolute blitz in the second quarter…28 points, 3 TD passes from Nico, and Tennessee followed up that 28-0 halftime lead with 21 more points in the third quarter. Crisis averted, the Vols win over the Miners 56-0, and though it took a minute, they did exactly what they needed to do; not only win the game, but add “style points” in doing so. Nico was efficient after a gross 1st quarter, ended up with 209 yards passing and 4 TD’s. Dylan Sampson gets another TD, and adds 77 yards rushing, while Peyton Lewis and Cam Seldon gave Vol fans a glimpse of the future of the running back room with 90 combined rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. The most heartwarming performance of the day though came from Bru McCoy. In what may be his last game on the turf of Neyland Stadium, Bru hauls in 4 catches for 37 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Whatever happens next, Bru McCoy is a beloved VFL, and we’ll all remember some truly iconic plays by #5 during his 3 seasons with the Vols…class act that one…and he truly deserved that kind of spotlight yesterday! I’m smiling as I write this…
So, the day ends for the Vols with a lot of things in their favor…except the day really wasn’t over, and there was more chaos coming! BYU loses at Arizona St., making it about a 100% certainty that the Big 12 will get only one CFP bid, and then Saturday night…the most improbable happened. Oklahoma…yeah, the same Oklahoma team that the Vols handled back in September, positively trucked Alabama 24-3 in Norman…yeah, the same Norman where the Vols disposed of the Sooners! Regardless of how bad the Sooners offense has been this season, their defense has always been elite, and they showed it last night, holding Bama’s Jalen Milroe to 7 yards rushing on 15 carries, and also forcing a pick 6 from Milroe. The loss means that unless there’s a super-sized level of chaos again next weekend, a 3 loss Alabama is highly likely to miss the College Football Playoffs. Then add in Texas A&M’s 4 OT loss to Auburn, and short of Penn St. and Notre Dame not losing (Georgia losing would have no doubt helped, but not a chance in hell they were going to lose to UMass), the Vols and their fans could not have asked for a much better day! I mean, 5 things happened yesterday that positively effected the Tennessee’s chances to make the Field of 12. If you started your Saturday and were offered that type of outcome for the day, you would take it 100 out of 100 times! The Vols are now back in the game, ranked #7 in the latest AP Poll, and very, very likely to be back into the College Football Playoff bracket projections that come out on Tuesday night. Now, all that Josh and the boys need to do is win in Nashville on Saturday, and who knows, not only are they in the CFP, but they still may also have a shot at hosting a game in Neyland on December 20 or 21! Somehow, it all is truly right there in front of them…again…time to take care of business!
Tennessee Football. Photo by Rocky Top Insider/Ric Butler.
