ATLANTA – Like most college football teams this time of year – at least the half who won Saturday’s games – Tennessee and Georgia Tech enter tonight’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game with visions of grandeur dancing in their heads.
A conference division title for sure. Maybe a conference championship. Even a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff, if only because everybody’s undefeated before the season opener.
At least, the Volunteers and Yellow Jackets probably had those dreams prior to top-ranked Alabama’s 24-7 victory over No. 3 Florida State inside the same palatial Mercedes-Benz Stadium they will square off in at 8 tonight.
After that performance, in which the Crimson Tide didn’t play all that well offensively, isn’t everybody else basically playing for second? Especially in the Southeastern Conference?
When star running back Damien Harris is also blocking punts, when defensive lineman Raekwon Davis can bounce back from a gunshot wound in seven days to sack Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois (the 10-yard loss gave the Tide a huge shot of adrenaline in the third quarter), when Bama can open the season against a quality program, commit no turnovers and be flagged for but 30 yards in penalties, what chance does anyone beyond Ohio State, Southern California and possibly Stanford have to beat these guys?