Tennessee Vols rooting guide for November 2: time for UT fans to do what they normally hate to do
The Tennessee Vols square off with the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night at 7:45 pm ET inside Neyland Stadium. That game will obviously have the prime focus of the Big Orange faithful. However, there's still a lot of action going on around the country that can ultimately have an impact on where Tennessee ends up […]
The Tennessee Vols square off with the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night at 7:45 pm ET inside Neyland Stadium. That game will obviously have the prime focus of the Big Orange faithful.
However, there's still a lot of action going on around the country that can ultimately have an impact on where Tennessee ends up in the final College Football Playoff rankings when all is said and done. Even though many Tennessee fans say, "don't care, just win", sometimes it's not that easy. Winning is hard, and opportunities should be welcomed around every corner to make it to the playoff. If the Vols slip up once more, a result elsewhere in early November could make the difference in them potentially getting in.
As such, here's a list of games and who to root for on Saturday from a Tennessee perspective:
- Penn State-Ohio State: An Ohio State loss SHOULD (key word: should) put the Buckeyes in a tough place for the playoff, given their lack of any impressive wins and soft remaining schedule. But hey, name brand matters in this sport way more than it should (hi, Alabama), so perhaps not. Still, Penn State and Ohio State both ending the regular season at 11-1 could be trouble for a 10-2 Tennessee, so go Nittany Lions on Saturday.
- Florida-Georgia. My colleague Zach Ragan talked about it earlier today, but Vol fans need to suck it up and pull for their hated rivals from Gainesville. Not typically easy to do, but it's a lot easier when you happen to be pulling against a team like the Bulldogs at the same time.
- Oregon-Michigan: Clearly, it would help everyone if Oregon picked up a loss ahead of the Big Ten title game, so pull for that to happen, as unlikely as it might be.
- Texas A&M-South Carolina: The Aggies are undefeated in the SEC. So, this one is obvious: South Carolina. A&M losing on Saturday and then knocking off Texas at the end of November would be an ideal situation.
- Indiana-Michigan State: An 8-0 Indiana team is something I never thought I'd write, but here we are. A one-loss Indiana team could be a problem in an at-large competition with a 2-loss UT team, so it's all in for Sparty this weekend.
- Louisville-Clemson: Another obvious one here, as it would help for Clemson to pick up loss #2 at some point, so why not now?
- Duke-Miami: The Hurricanes losing two games has to start with one, and the 6-2 Blue Devils could be the best team left on their regular season slate. A Miami loss would help UT for sure.
- Pittsburgh-SMU: Yeah, this one might raise an eyebrow or two, but both teams are inside the top 20, and the Panthers are still undefeated. At this point, it's about everyone getting a loss going into their conference title games, so SMU dropping Pitt in Dallas would help. Then, Pitt and Clemson would have a game next weekend where one team would for sure reach loss #2.
- Texas Tech-Iowa State: Both BYU and Iowa State are still undefeated. Them both being unbeaten going into their conference title game could mean both end up getting in. Both need to take a loss, and that starts with Iowa State on Saturday against the Red Raiders.
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