Hobbled Dawgs, surging Vols: What’s at stake in the biggest game of the weekend

Everyone who peeked at the 2024 college football schedule figured that on Nov. 14 would come a game of reckoning in the SEC. But almost no one expected whose reckoning it would be.

Tennessee travels to Athens this weekend to challenge the University of Georgia in one of only two games matching ranked teams. (The other is No. 23 Clemson vs. No. 21 South Carolina. Knock yourselves out, y’all.) It’s not a surprise that both the Vols and Dawgs are coming into the weekend highly ranked. It is, however, a surprise at where they sit.

One-loss Tennessee arrives in Athens with a clear path to the SEC championship and a first-round CFP bye. Head coach Josh Heupel and quarterback Nico Iamaleava have at last delivered a team worthy of the hue and cry of Neyland Stadium, and they’ve got the bones of Alabama buried in the checkerboard turf to prove it.

Two-loss Georgia, on the other hand, suddenly finds itself outside the current (meaningless) playoff bracket and very much on the verge of missing the entire 12-team playoff. It’s quite the fall for the 2021-22 national champions, who had fully expected the Kirby Smart juggernaut to deliver title after title in the post-Nick Saban era.

And, of course, that could still happen. But it’s a whole lot harder for Georgia now, meaning it’s a whole lot harder for everybody. The transfer portal, NIL riches — which can have both positive and negative effects — and the absolute necessity of staying locked-in, every Saturday of every fall have all led to this: another Game of the Year in a season already full of them.

Heupel, like all SEC coaches in the 21st century, knows exactly how to craft the proper respectful-while-saying-nothing statement on his upcoming opponent. “Extremely talented, coached extremely well,” he said earlier this week. “They play hard. They play…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-14 18:01:21

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