Alabama, Florida, Or Georgia. You Only Get One.

Image: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Cody McClure

Inspired by our discussion this morning on TalkSports, you have to pick one — Alabama, Florida, or Georgia.

Which win are you locking in?

There is plenty of discussion and debate to be had on which one of these games is the most important for Tennessee to win.

My answer is Georgia. That’s the one I want most, followed in order by Alabama and Florida.

I’m viewing this mostly from a vibes-based lens.

In my opinion, this is simply the highest return possible, vibes-wise, of the season.

Would it be sweet to win at Alabama, taking three of the last four, and officially owning the Kalen Deboer-era Tide? Of course.

Would it be sweet to win at Florida, taking three of the last four, and getting our first W in The Swamp in 22 years? Of course.

But the way I see it, Georgia is the only dragon that Josh Heupel hasn’t slayed. He’s already beaten Alabama and Florida.

And Georgia is the only one of those opponents that UT will play in the confines of Neyland Stadium this year.

A massive home win means more people can enjoy it live. It means the Neyland Effect is fully on display.

It means the bars will be crowded and the local economy will thrive.

It means sad Georgia fans’ barks will turn to angered whimpers as they hang their heads in shame amid well-deserved taunts from Vol fans.

It means the star of big, bad UGA continues to dim while the star of Tennessee continues to twinkle brighter.

It means we officially enter CHAMPIONSHIP conversation and LEGITIMATE CONTENDER conversation.

It means we go from knocking on the door of being one of college football’s best programs to having a seat at the table.

True legitimacy — coming against a team that we haven’t been within two scores of since 2016.

I can understand the arguments for winning either of the other two games given that it’s been 20 years or longer since the Vols won at either Alabama or Florida.

Assuming two of the three games are losses, I can see where beating Florida in November to clinch a playoff bid would feel pretty awesome.

That scenario specifically would be close to beating Georgia, vibes-wise, but not quite.

Beating Georgia at home this year would fall second only to beating Nick Saban at home in 2022.

It would be the Vols’ second-biggest football win this century (unless you want to say 2001 Florida but either way this would be top two or three).

And I just don’t think you can say the same for beating what could be a 6-4 or 5-5 Florida team on the road.

And as cool as winning at Bryant-Denny would be, I don’t think you can say that for beating a DeBoer-coached Tide squad either.

It’s time for Tennessee to knock off the ‘Dawgs.

It’s been too long.