sami

Seeds and rankings at this point mean very little. What's important is to be healthy and playing well going into the tournament. For UT the question remains the same as it has been for the last few seasons - can they shoot well enough consistently to win four games and get to a Final Four, and then for a couple more games? If the answers are yes, there's no limit to how far they can go this year.

If that was to happen, the Colts will live to regret passing on Bryce Young. And unless Houston is dumb enough not to pick him, Indy will be regretting it twice a year for a long time.

Kiper has Levis going #1. The NFL has always been more about potential and measurables than college performance, which is why you get some major busts like Russell and Leaf at the top of the draft. To me, Richardson as a 1st is even more bizarre - I can see him being a mid round flyer as a project for a team already set at QB, but 1st rounders are drafted to be franchise QB's. That just doesn't make sense, as he's the ultimate work in progress.

McElroy is working the Orange Bowl on ESPN, so including UT is a bit of promotion for the broadcast. I don't see this as being a '13th game' as much as a pre-season 2023 game since we are going to see a lot of kids who will be counted on in bigger roles next season. IMO that is what the bowls have become in the age of opt-outs and the portal. More than anyone else, the pressure will be on Joe Milton to show that he is on the right track with his accuracy issues and intends to make the QB1 spot his own in 2023.

Young and Anderson opting in has put a bit of pressure on the Tide to beat K-State, which I think they will do in a big way. I see a Bama rout that will put an exclamation mark on this season and kick start 2023.

Truth. Emmert is a leech who oversaw the final embarrassment and destruction of the NCAA as a "governing body", and should be the last person to comment on anything destroying college sports.

It's highly doubtful his stock will ever be higher than it is right now. Much as I love him as a player and VFL, I'd advise him to shut it down and prepare for the combine and draft.

Alabama is the only team in the top 10 that would have had a shot to beat Georgia because they have the best player. Georgia wants no part of them, whether they admit it or not. They're going to build the CFP up as they always do, and it will turn out to be two Georgia blowouts, because the other three teams are all pretenders. My only question is at what point we stop pretending that the Big 10 is any better than the Big 12, Pac 12, or any other conference that isn't the SEC? When Michigan gets curb stomped by Georgia yet again, will that do the trick?

I don't think there's any doubt about that. To me, Alabama is the only team in the top 10 that would have a shot at beating Georgia, and I might have included UT with Hooker as well. Without Alabama in the field, it's a walk in the park for Georgia.

Good post, and points well taken. Once Hooker went down, it was over for us with regard to getting any kind of a ranking break. Bama was competitive in every game, and their only two losses were last second barn burners in the most hostile settings in the SEC. UT getting badly outplayed by Georgia and blown out at SC is just too much negative baggage to overcome, as great a season as we had. I wonder how many 2-loss CFB teams have ever had the opposing fans rush the field after both losses?

The Sandusky stuff wasn’t the primary reason I didn’t want Schiano. His hire would have led to an endless string of 7-5 type seasons, and the reason the media was so outraged is because they darn well knew it and wanted it.

"Ohio State will be ahead of ‘Bama in tomorrow’s CFP rankings, and with neither school playing a conference championship game, there will be no way for ‘Bama to leapfrog. " So goes the prayers of the Georgia fan base. The only team in the top 10 with a shot of beating Georgia in the CFP, and the only one you fear, would be Alabama. Whether you admit it or not.

He should get an invite at the very least. Even missing one game, his numbers and impact were through the roof. The best of luck to him, but with his work ethic and faith it won't be luck that makes him a success wherever he ends up.

Yet.

Extending Heupel and Golesh should be at the very top of UT's off season priorities. To let Golesh walk for anything but a HC job would be unforgivable, and I don't foresee White allowing that to happen.

I generally agree with your takes, fuzzy, but on this one you are way off base. There might come a day where these opportunities are an annual exercise for us the way they've been for the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world, but when you have a real chance to get to the playoff, with all the attention and exposure it will bring, and you are on the doorstep the way we are right now, anything short would be a huge disappointment. Not in the team or the program, but because these shots, with a team that can play right now with anyone in the country, don't grow on trees. If holding my nose and rooting for Georgia to win a game against a team I couldn't care less about is the price, it's one I'll pay, albeit certainly not watching that game. Besides, win or lose there is nothing I'd love more than a rematch with Georgia at a neutral site for all the marbles.

USC would get in on the cache their brand still has nationally and the fact that the committee would love to get the west coast audience, and USC would bring that. Doesn't hurt that USC will soon be in the Big 10.

There are quite a few logical posts from Vol fans, just like there are from Bama fans. Problem is the few tools from both (and more than a few from UGa) that post incessantly in every SDS thread that spoil them - you know who they are.

* Should have read: If Michigan and one of TCU or USC loses.....

Agree. If Michigan and one of TCU or USC wins, UT is likely in. Clemson is done, and the committee seems to have made that clear. Now if LSU wins in Atlanta, let the chaos begin.

You can post as many novels with your bizarre logic as you want, but no amount of gum-flapping will change these two facts: If TCU goes unbeaten they are in. If USC wins out they are in. There's not even a debate on those two facts other than your endless posts. Will UT's resume be better than both? Yes, but it will be irrelevant with an unbeaten P5 conference champ and a 1-loss champ with the pedigree of USC. Would UT beat either team on the field? Highly likely, but again, it will not matter. Please stop embarrassing our fan base with your nonsensical blathering.

If it was almost any other school I would tend to agree. But UT has historically traveled well, and this fan base is so starved to get back to being nationally relevant again that I'd be very surprised if we didn't represent very well, even in Atlanta.

"Look inward". Brilliant. I'm calling Post Of The Month early.

The only thing bad about this game is that the loser may very well be left out of the CFP despite being better than any non-SEC team that might get in, undefeated or not. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that either UT or UGa would beat Clemson, TCU, Michigan, USC, or even Ohio State? I don't see any way they put three SEC teams in, yet if it is really about the four best teams making the playoff, and Alabama wins out, I have trouble believing that all three of UT, UGa, and Bama aren't among the best four in the country.

Just please keep on talking, I love to hear it. Florida, LSU, Bama, and Kentucky were the same way, and now we'll hear the barking from the Georgia faithful about how 'overrated' and 'overhyped' we are all week. Bring it on.

All this talk about "looking past" Kentucky is ridiculous, and if Klatt or any of these media hacks spewing garbage like that had a clue they would understand that. Maybe just a way to get clicks and views, which is all they're about, anyway. Heupel will have this team laser focused, not that they would need it at this point. Kentucky is a solid football team, and the Vols know it. Besides, the raucous crowd at Neyland will certainly keep them focused. Let fans be fans and look ahead, it's what we do. Should be a fun game on Saturday.

We should be so lucky.

What fans believe could not be more irrelevant. Heupel will have this team laser focused, the same way they have been every week, regardless the opponent. Many of these players have experienced the losing years that preceded Heupel's arrival, and will remain hungry and focused. Kentucky is a good, solid team that the Vols know from last year is no pushover. I'd be shocked if UT doesn't come out on fire tonight, especially in front of a raucous Neyland crowd. I think Tennessee covers the spread, but not without a fight. However, if UT can jump to an early multiple score lead, the game has the potential to get ugly if KY is forced out of their comfort zone.

Agree. Stressing over rankings other than the CFP rankings is pointless, and by the time the first one is released a lot of questions will have been answered, or will be shortly thereafter. Right now the only concern should be the next game on the schedule.

The loser of the UT-UGa game can only get in, theoretically, if Alabama beats the winner in the SEC title game. All three teams would then have one loss to one of the other three, but only the conference champ would be assured a bid. The only way the SEC has a real shot to get three teams in the CFP is if there are no other unbeaten teams than perhaps the OSU/Michigan winner, and even then they will have to get picked over potential one-loss USC, Oregon, and Clemson teams that would be conference champs. Highly unlikely. If Clemson or TCU remain unbeaten and win their conference titles, they are as good as in.