SEC coach reveals whether Tennessee or Texas is the best football team in the conference
There are a few teams in the SEC that currently control their own destiny when it comes to reaching the conference championship game in Atlanta in December. But only two of those teams — the Tennessee Vols and the Texas Longhorns — currently have one loss. If Tennessee and Texas both win out, they'll meet […]
There are a few teams in the SEC that currently control their own destiny when it comes to reaching the conference championship game in Atlanta in December. But only two of those teams — the Tennessee Vols and the Texas Longhorns — currently have one loss.
If Tennessee and Texas both win out, they'll meet in Atlanta on December 7 to play for the SEC Championship and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
Getting to Atlanta, however, won't be an easy task for either team. Tennessee travels to Athens this weekend for a huge game against the Georgia Bulldogs. Texas, meanwhile, finishes the season with a big road game against the Texas A&M Aggies.
(Texas A&M, which has just one conference loss, also controls its own destiny in the SEC thanks to that looming matchup against Texas.)
Texas is currently ranked higher than Tennessee in the College Football Playoff rankings despite having zero wins against a team that's currently ranked in the top 25.
The Longhorns are No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings this week. Tennessee comes in at No. 7 (the Vols have a win against No. 10 Alabama on their résumé).
At least one SEC coach thinks that Tennessee is a better team than Texas, despite what the College Football Playoff committee had to say this week.
An anonymous SEC coach told ESPN that Tennessee is better than Texas because the Vols have the edge up front.
From ESPN: Right now the debate in the SEC is between Texas and Tennessee, but one SEC coach told me Tennessee has the edge because it is better up front than the Longhorns.
"When Georgia went in there and beat Texas, they beat them at the line of scrimmage," the coach said. "That caused me to question whether their line of scrimmage is going to be good enough to win this league. And they haven't really been tested since then. When they play Texas A&M we'll find out."
Tennessee's defensive line has been excellent all season long thanks in large part to the elite depth that the program has built there. And the Vols' offensive line, while not nearly as deep, has played extremely well over the last several games. The Vols' transformation in the trenches under Josh Heupel and his coaching staff the last several years has been impressive to watch. And it's a huge reason why Tennessee has a chance to accomplish something really special in 2024.
