Tennessee Possibilities

In the realm of possibilities, an SEC football game covers the gamut. The history of the conference is littered with great teams losing to inferior competition on the one Saturday they did not show up as they did during the rest of the season. In the last two years, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Arkansas have played that role on the national stage, contributing blemishes to otherwise-undefeated national champions Florida (2008, lost to the Rebels 31-30) and LSU (2007, lost to the Wildcats 43-37 and to the Hogs 50-48, both in overtime).

Forecasting a game obviously requires considering the possibility that a team may not play as well as it should. I read an article in a South Carolina newspaper last week predicting a 21-20 upset of the Tide, which haunted me a bit even as Ingram rammed over the goal line to make it 20-6 because two touchdowns, an extra point, and a two-point conversion would have brought that author's vision to fruition. Fortunately, his Kool-Aid did not fully factor in the punch of Alabama's defense; but the table had been set most of the evening for the Gamecocks to steal a win in Tuscaloosa. It is this table-setting that could possibly reappear on the Third Satarday in October (plus one).

Though the Vols do not possess the maybe-they'll-forget-about-us-in-their-schedule cover that South Carolina held, they do come off a bye week after their under-fire quarterback finally showed that he can hit a receiver in the numbers instead of the helmet. (To be fair, his receivers remembered they were supposed to be catching the ball and not avoiding it like it had H1N1.) Their defensive coordinator, who blueprinted the gameplan that kept his overmatched team in the game Florida, has had an extra week to scheme against Ingram and Co. Their head coach, though, decided to fly around in a helicopter with some of his free time; if Crompton hadn't finally played well, I would have followed that shenanigan with something about bringing the helicopter because that would be his only chance at an aerial attack...stupid Georgia game. Yet, even that stunt doesn't fully assuage the possibility of another game like the Vols-Gators wrestled through earlier this season.

The one thing Kiffin has done right as far as his verbal assaults on the league goes is stay away from Saban. He did mention taking coaches from other schools, but that's been but a blip compared the school yard flirting, I mean, taunting he's focused towards Urban Meyer. Maybe I'm giving Kiffin too much credit, but it seems he recognizes Saban is not someone to mess with. Saban won't jump in like Meyer, publicly anyway. Behind the closed doors of the locker room, there's no doubt that St. Nick offers more curses than blessings to Kiffin and his Rocky Top bunch. Surely Kiffin doesn't think that Lance Thompson is going to provide extra insight into how to stop the Tide. Or that niceties are going to keep Bama's coach from letting the real hounds loose.

When Alabama has played Saturday night ESPN games the past couple of seasons, they've been close and exciting. CBS telecasts have frequently been less dramatic, save the LSU heart-stopper from last year. With the Tide struggling offensively the past two weeks, it seems they're due to have a break-out game, especially since Tennessee's defense is so highly regarded. The obvious match-up this game is the Bama offense versus the Vols defense; sometimes the obvious gets turned on its head. Here's hoping Julio's knee gets to 100% this week; that McElroy's confidence returns to 2nd-half-Va-Tech levels; that Ingram introduces Eric Berry to his shoulder pads again and again; that McLain, Cody, and crew get to snack on Crompton Crunch; and that alternative lyrics to Rocky Top can be heard on CBS. RTR.