The Tennessee Vols will travel to Columbia this weekend for an important SEC matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

It’ll be Tennessee’s trip to Columbia since the infamous loss to South Carolina in 2022 that kept the Vols out of the four-team College Football Playoff.

This is Tennessee’s final game in a tough stretch before their bye week.

South Carolina, meanwhile, is coming of a bye, so they’re the fresher team.

The narrative about Tennessee vs South Carolina is already forming

It’s still early in the week, but a narrative around this game is already forming.

And it’s a narrative that Tennessee should embrace.

This is going to be a game where you see a lot of talking heads pick South Carolina to win what’s essentially viewed as a “trap game” for the Vols.

Tennessee is coming off an emotional win over Alabama, they haven’t had a week off yet, and Columbia is a house of horrors for the Volunteers (Tennessee is 2-6 in Columbia since 2008, and one of those wins came during the Covid-impacted 2020 season).

“I think there’s a real expectation that this is an upset in the making,” said Voice of the Vols Mike Keith on 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL on Monday. “Every week, the SEC has two or three or four of these games. And you’re saying, ‘That’s what’s going to happen here because it’s due to happen to Tennessee now — just like it was due to happen to other teams last weekend.’”

On3’s Chris Low also appeared on 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL on Monday and he pointed out that South Carolina is close “talent-wise” to Tennessee.

“This is really a pick-em type of game,” said Low. “And I think both of these teams are pretty close talent-wise. Tennessee is better on defense than South Carolina, Tennessee’s as good as anybody on defense with the way they’re playing right now. South Carolina has the edge, I think, at quarterback, and they run the ball well. South Carolina, if you look at their numbers, they’re in the top 10 or 15 in running the football and throwing it.

“Tennessee’s going to have to play well. And as a coach, I guarantee that Josh Heupel and his staff have talked about this. I know he’s talked to his kids about this. This really is a one-game season for them because if they get caught up at all in what they did this past weekend (against Alabama), they’re going to go and get beat. Because South Carolina, they feel like they found something two weeks ago. They had a week now to rest up and get healthy. This is sort of ‘the game’ for them. If they’re going to be an eight-win team or better, this is when they’ve got to win, and I guarantee that they know it. So I think this is as intriguing a game as there is in the [SEC] this week.”

This game is clearly viewed as an upset in the making. And that should thrill Josh Heupel and his staff. They shouldn’t have any issues getting the team to lock in on South Carolina prep as there will be plenty of folks this week who pick the Vols to lose this game.