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Published Nov 20, 2022
The Big Picture
Larry Williams
Tigerillustrated.com

CLEMSON -- Tennessee chose to break out orange helmets for its trip to South Carolina and it was fitting, because the Volunteers' carriage ride to the CFP turned into a pumpkin.

The events that unfolded in Columbia last night perfectly encapsulated the beauty of the college football regular season, but particularly this college football regular season.

It routinely gives us the inexplicable while also giving us ruthless finality.

In the coming 12-team format, Tennessee getting boat-raced by an average-at-best South Carolina team would've been jolting but not seismic or defining.

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In the current structure, which the last time we checked has done an impeccable job of identifying the best team in college football, 63-38 in late November exposes Tennessee's CFP credentials as fraudulent.

They're done.

We've seen enough of them in the same way that we've seen enough of Penn State, Utah, North Carolina and a whole host of others that would be vying for inclusion in the 12-team setup.

The regular season is a playoff unto itself, and the more time that goes by the more impressive it becomes that Clemson remains in that playoff conversation.

We came so close to outright armageddon yesterday. Only two teams in the Top 10 suffered losses, Tennessee and Utah. But that total could've easily been seven.

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