At least one half of the equation could be there with just another win or two.
WOW … JUST WOW
ICYMI, here's how Tennessee's 43-yard Hail Mary sounded on #Vols radio… pic.twitter.com/mm61Okl046
— Campus Insiders (@CampusInsiders) October 2, 2016
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but I remember watching a lot of the 1998 Volunteers team, and sometimes a team has that magic and there’s nothing that can be done to stop it.
Arkansas tried in 1998. Played a perfect game for three quarters, had No. 1 Tennessee dead to rights and then this:
Sometimes there’s no explaining it. Some teams just have it. Again, we’re only five weeks into the season, but it feels like there’s something special happening in Knoxville.
Sadly, the Hail Mary erased the memories of Jacob Eason throwing ANOTHER money pass late in the fourth quarter to rally his team to victory. Or at least what should have been a victory.
UGA QB #10 Jacob Eason @skinnyqb10 Leads UGA Down The Field With A Bomb To UGA WR #8 Riley Ridley @rilo_12 For The TD
Vid: @Loyal_To_The_G pic.twitter.com/NCTgOdmdGi
— Hall Sports Communications (@Loyal_To_The_G) October 1, 2016
That’s an 18-year-old true freshman dropping a DIME for the almost-win with less than 30 seconds left. What a game.
THE ROAD TO ATLANTA IS ALMOST PAVED IN ORANGE
Tennessee has a front-loaded schedule, which is a good thing if the Volunteers win the early games, and they have this season. Now comes the really hard part – a two-game stretch against undefeated SEC West opponents Texas A&M and Alabama.
If the Volunteers can split those two games and get to their bye week on Oct. 22 things get a LOT easier.
Tennessee’s final five games are: @ South Carolina, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky, Missouri and @ Vanderbilt. All five opponents on the back end of the schedule are currently under .500.
The combined record of the first seven teams right now is 26-8.
Things are setting up very nicely for the Vols if they can survive the next two weeks.
TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING
No secret that I’m a huge Ed Orgeron fan, so I took a special interest in watching the LSU-Missouri game until Louisville-Clemson became must-see TV.
The Tigers didn’t necessarily do anything exotic on offense outside of a couple early shots downfield and some three and four-wide sets to spread Missouri out. But they didn’t have to do a lot to just give the running game a little room to breath and make the defense stay aware of a big pass play. It worked, LSU gained 634 yards – most ever for LSU in an SEC conference game.
No Leonard. No Les.
But safe to say Ed Orgeron's debut as head coach was a success. pic.twitter.com/sGwwF5Gt4J
— ESPN (@espn) October 2, 2016
The LSU-Orgeron marriage might be one out of convenience right now, but get it straight … Orgeron WANTS this job in the worst way. And while LSU fans are staying cautiously optimistic, they are rooting for him to succeed in this tryout because he’s one of them. He sounds like them, he looks like them and he loves Louisiana like them.
When Orgeron temporarily took over for Lane Kiffin at USC, he had embraced the California culture. He loved USC, he went 6-2 in replacing Kiffin and many thought he deserved that job. He didn’t get it. Instead, they offered him a big raise and an “associate head coach” title under Steve Sarkisian. Orgeron was heartbroken and said thanks, but no thanks. USC has had issues with the head coaching position since.
This is different. LSU is actively scouting replacements for Miles. Orgeron knows this. He isn’t under any sort of pretense that this is definitely his job regardless of how he fares in the final seven games. He’s going to enjoy it and try to win each week. Whatever happens will happen.
The schedule is brutal, starting with a road trip to Florida in The Swamp on Saturday. The other four conference games are Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Woof. The non-conference games are Southern Miss (bowl team in 2015) and South Alabama (hello, Mississippi State!).
Will 6-1 in that seven-game stretch get Orgeron a serious look? 5-2? Hard to tell, but if LSU can pull out a win this week, the rumbles will start and people will wonder if LSU’s next head coach is sitting right under their nose.
THE TIGERS LOSE ONE TO ALABAMA ALREADY
Not all the news in Baton Rouge is good news as former Baton Rouge resident and the nation’s top-rated athlete Dylan Moses committed to Alabama this weekend after his official visit. Moses is projected to play outside linebacker at the next level.
I caught up with Moses last Wednesday when he was presented his game jersey for the Under Armour All-America Game along with nine of his teammates at IMG Academy.
Moses said he and Miles had a great relationship and he was “shocked” when his parents told him that Miles was fired. He said he was going to take his time with the recruiting process and probably not make a final decision until Jan. 1.
The timeline changed, and now Moses said he’s done with official visits and the recruiting process.
https://twitter.com/Dylan1Moses_/status/782673797950402561
THE WEST SIDE IS STILL THE BEST SIDE
The early results are in, and it isn’t very pretty. The SEC West has dominated the SEC East in inter-divisional games thus far.
It’s a small sample size, but the West is currently 5-0 against the East with an average score of 34-11.
This week, the East will put their big dogs up against the West to try to stop the bleeding as Florida will host LSU, and Tennessee travels to College Station to take on Texas A&M in a battle of top 10 undefeated teams.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
