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Tennessee and Texas A&M are set to play Saturday in a Top 10 showdown at Kyle Field.
The game is huge for each team’s path to Atlanta to play for a conference championship.
For the Vols, they have been living on a prayer, but also have been playing good football at times when the game is on the line. The Aggies have been a balanced team, a team that looks settled in under fifth-year head coach Kevin Sumlin with two coordinators who are providing results with the talented players that Sumlin has brought in to play in the SEC.
The game is big as the two undefeated teams square-off, and the voice of the Vols and Aggies talked to Saturday Down South about it.
Voice of the Vols: Bob Kesling
Kesling took the reigns of the Voice of the Vols in 1999, following the legendary John Ward’s retirement after the national championship 1998 season. Kesling has not called as many highs compared to the lows.
Now, in 2016, Kesling is calling what has started to be a special season.
“Tennessee has been very fortunate,” Kesling said. “The defense has played well in the second half and the football God’s have been smiling on Tennessee. The Appalachian State game to begin the year, if Jalen Hurd doesn’t fall on the ball in the end zone during overtime, that opens the door for App State to kick a field goal and win the game in overtime.
“Then you have the Georgia game, which is the most remarkable game ending that I have ever seen in my life. Georgia made just an incredible play and then Tennessee came back throwing the Hail Smokey or whatever you want to call it. It was just an unbelievable turn of events.”
Nonetheless, Tennessee is fortunate to be 5-0. But the Vols also are talented and learning to close out games.
“The harder you work, the luckier you get,” Kesling said. “Even though they have had the ball ball bounce their way, they’ve still had to make their own breaks and win those games.”
Saturday’s game will bring probably the biggest test of the season for the Vols, and Tennessee needs to play a complete game in a setting of Saturday’s magnitude.
“They need to play more of a complete game Saturday if they want to fulfill their goal of winning the SEC East,” Kesling said. “I’m excited about going to Kyle Field. It’s amazing since they have been in the league that these teams haven’t played. It’s kind of the quirkiness of having 14 teams in divisional play. I know the Tennessee fans are looking forward to the trip to Texas A&M.”
Along with the first trip to College Station comes the actual game and the Top 10 match-up.
“Tennessee’s going against a very good Texas A&M team that’s playing well on both sides of the ball. Having Darrin Kirkland Jr. back at linebacker will be a big boost, Cam Sutton’s still out and we don’t know about Jalen Reeves-Maybin. So it’s remarkable that Tennessee’s 5-0 and yet they have been playing the last several weeks without three of their top defensive players and yet able to figure out a way to win.
“Anytime you have a team 5-0, you have to have some storylines and players to step in and fill some gaps and maybe some things that the coaching staff didn’t think they could do at times.”
For the Vols, a win is on the radar heading into College Station, but also a SEC East division crown and a game to play for the conference championship in Atlanta.
“It’s cliche’s, but it’s game-by-game. If Tennessee loses these next two games, and Florida runs the table, then Florida is going to Atlanta. There’s a lot of things that can happen. I would think that if Tennessee can split these next two games, you want to win them both, but in worst case scenario if you can split them, then that’s all not that bad and still have the tiebreaker over Florida and Georgia.
“If you have the advantage in November and hold everything in your hands, then you feel pretty good about it.”
Voice of the Aggies: Dave South
The Aggies joined the SEC in 2012 and are no stranger to the spotlight. Saturday, the Aggies will play one more game with all eyes on them, and it stacks up with the previous games.
“This would be one of the bigger matchups,” Dave South said of the Tennessee game.
“Obviously every time we play Alabama it’s a big matchup for us, but I think with both teams undefeated, we haven’t played Tennessee since the 2005 Cotton Bowl, and we just finished up one of the hardest parts of the schedule of the year.
“We’ve played three consecutive games away from Kyle Field, the Arkansas games was a 50/50 game at a neutral site, but we started out by going to Auburn, then AT&T Stadium in Arlington against Arkansas, then a dogfight at South Carolina. It’s the first time A&M has played back-to-back-to-back away games in the regular season.”
South is well aware where the Aggies stand, not only going into the Tennessee game, but for the overall season.
“5-0 right now,” he said. “I would think this team is different than the first four teams that coach (Kevin) Sumlin has brought to Texas A&M.
“I think the big question mark coming into the season was the offensive line, that was a question mark in my mind; however, I have a whole lot of confidence in Jim Turner (offensive line coach), who was here with Mike Sherman, the offensive line is performing above expectations.”
The biggest change for Texas A&M this season has been on offense. The change brought SEC experience from Noel Mazzone, who is a familiar face in the SEC from his days at Ole Miss and Auburn.
“I’m overwhelmed in how this team has performed this year,” he said. “Balanced in passing and the rushing game, this along with a defense that has found depth, in the front and at linebacker, then the secondary allowing for gang-busters, I think it’s a pretty solid football team.”
Dan Harralson covers Tennessee football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danharralson.
