ESPN thumbs its nose at Tennessee Vols' biggest wins from 2024 college football season
The Tennessee Volunteers had a strong 2024 season, taking a big step forward in making their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and their second ten-plus win season in their last three years. Anchoring that were wins over two of Tennessee's biggest rivals in Florida and Alabama. And Tennessee won both of those games in exciting […]
The Tennessee Volunteers had a strong 2024 season, taking a big step forward in making their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and their second ten-plus win season in their last three years.
Anchoring that were wins over two of Tennessee's biggest rivals in Florida and Alabama. And Tennessee won both of those games in exciting fashion. Tennessee came from 10 points down to clip the Gators in overtime 23-17 and came from behind in the second half to topple the Crimson Tide.
However, neither game apparently moved the needle at all with ESPN's Billy Connelly, who revealed his list of 100 best games from the 2024 college football season on Tuesdsay. Both games were left off the list entirely.
However, don't worry. The Vols still made the list – with a loss. The supposed #45 game of the year was Arkansas 19, Tennessee 14. This is what Connelly had to say about the contest:
It wasn't even the biggest unranked-over-top-five upset of the day in the SEC (hello, Bama-Vandy), and it didn't knock Tennessee out of the CFP, but it was still a thriller. Arkansas' defense played its best game of the season, and despite some early blown opportunities, the Razorbacks trailed just 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter. When quarterback Taylen Green went down due to injury, backup Malachi Singleton led a late go-ahead drive, the Hogs' D made one last stop and Arkansas celebrated a huge upset.
If a thriller constitutes a sloppy, low scoring punt fest like we saw in Fayetteville, then there would have been no reason to keep either of Tennessee's wins over Florida or Alabama off the list.
The Alabama game is particularly noteworthy because it was a game that ultimately shaped the playoff picture. Tennessee defeated Alabama and got in because of it. A loss, and the Tide are in. And that game came down to a final stop – a Will Brooks interception – to set off a euphoric celebration in Knoxville. A close contest in the Third Saturday of October with playoff stakes should be about as high as any game in the country.
And I've been told by many talking heads that the Florida Gators are a good team who will be a force in 2025. As such, Tennessee's thrilling overtime win wasn't half bad, was it? Even though Tennessee got docked in the polls somehow because of it. It had a memorable second half, with Tennessee taking the lead and DJ Lagway coming off the bench for the Gators and throwing a fourth down touchdown in the final seconds to force overtime before the Vols prevailed. A pretty thrilling matchup between two bitter longtime rivals.
It ultimately doesn't matter for anything objective. This isn't a playoff committee vote. But if you really believe either of those wins wasn't more important or impressive than the Pop Tarts Bowl, East Carolina vs. NC State, or Wisconsin-Stout vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater, then I don't know what to tell you.
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