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With half the SEC battling for College Football Playoff spots, No. 10 Tennessee and No. 7 Alabama face a potential elimination game on the Third Saturday in October.
On today’s episode of “The Volunteer State” podcast, hosts Adam Sparks and John Adams set the stakes for Saturday’s rivalry game (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) between the Vols and Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee’s defense is red hot, allowing only seven touchdowns in six games. But its offense is ice cold, failing to score in the first half of the past two games.
That combination usually wouldn’t be enough to knock off the mighty Crimson Tide. But this Alabama team is flawed, perhaps just as flawed as Tennessee.
Here are the eight SEC teams with path to playoff
On Saturday, Tennessee and Alabama will search for their identity and a path to the playoff. But only one will find it in Neyland Stadium.
On the podcast, Sparks and Adams agreed that eight SEC teams are still legitimately in the mix for a playoff spot. Here they are in order of their ranking in the US LBM Coaches Poll:
Texas (6-0, 2-0 SEC)
Georgia (5-1, 3-1)
Alabama (5-1, 2-1)
LSU (5-1, 2-0)
Tennessee (5-1, 2-1)
Texas A&M (5-1, 3-0)
Ole Miss (5-2, 2-1)
Missouri (5-1, 1-1)
Sparks said he believes Texas and Texas A&M have the clearest path to the playoff, considering their resume thus far and their remaining schedule. He ranks Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia after that.
Obviously, that means the Vols control their own destiny. They play Alabama on Saturday and at Georgia on Nov. 16. A 10-2 record should get Tennessee into the playoff, but a 9-3 record is probably a lost cause.
Adams said Georgia has a rockier road to the playoff because it must play at Texas, at Ole Miss and at home against Tennessee. The Bulldogs must survive that gauntlet, and Adams is skeptical.
