Paul Finebaum evaluates Tennessee's position after tight loss to Georgia

Tennessee lost a heartbreaker on Saturday in a 44-41 OT loss to Georgia, a ninth-straight loss overall to the Bulldogs, inside Neyland Stadium. Still, as far as the rest of this season goes in Knoxville, Paul Finebaum likes where the Volunteers find themselves coming out of last weekend.

Finebaum spoke about the Vols earlier this week on Monday while on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’. He does feel the missed kick in the fourth quarter, leading to overtime and the game ending in a three-point final margin, could eventually be the difference in a playoff berth by season’s end, but that he actually feels good about their team despite the loss considering how they played against the ‘Dawgs.

“Yeah, I felt good about it,” Finebaum said of Tennessee. “I mean, I’m afraid, when the season’s over, they may look back on those few yards that the kick missed on as being a determining factor of maybe getting into the playoffs or not. But, I still think they are in great shape.”

“I really did feel better about Tennessee. And, I didn’t feel badly about them going in but, three weeks into the season, I feel a lot better about them than I did in August,” said Finebaum.

Considering all things, it’s been a very good start to the season on Rocky Top. Tennessee is at 2-1 overall, losing only in very competitive fashion in overtime to UGA, with an offense that is back to being more high-powered and balanced and a still solid defense to pair with it.

Now, moving forward, the current state of the Southeastern could also be in the Volunteers’ favor. They might be 0-1 to start in conference play but, with few teams having really emerged to this point in the league, Tennessee may need to get only one or two of those in favor to set themselves up well in the SEC or for even again the CFP.

“They just have to turn a couple of games,” said Finebaum. “But, right now? I mean, you go down the list of the SEC from the top five or six schools and it’s almost impossible to figure out. What maybe once looked like an easy win no longer does.”

“I felt like that was a game they needed to get, primarily because, you know, they do have to go on the road to Alabama. And, Florida – remains to be seen what that game would look like in late November,” Finebaum noted, with Tuscaloosa and Gainesville being the toughest road games left for the Vols.

There’s no need to bring in the term of moral victory into this. That said, based on how they performed against the Bulldogs, Finebaum is one of many who like where Tennessee stands going into their final non-conference game this weekend.

“I like their position,” Finebaum said.