Tennessee will have to settle for second, at best, in the SEC East this year.
The Vols came into Saturday needing three things to happen to secure a trip to Atlanta to face SEC West champion Alabama:
1. An LSU win over Florida
2. A win over Missouri
3. A win over Vanderbilt next week.
Points two and three quickly became moot on Saturday afternoon when LSU fell 16-10 to the Gators in Baton Rouge in a game that was originally scheduled for Oct. 8 in Gainesville, but had to be rescheduled following Hurricane Matthew.
LSU had a chance at the end. The Tigers, who were without the services of star running back Leonard Fournette for much of the game, including the final play, failed to score on a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with seconds remaining on the clock.
What a defensive stand pic.twitter.com/qiXa54GJSe
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) November 19, 2016
That goal-line stand will send the Gators (6-2 SEC) to Atlanta for the second time in two years. Tennessee can finish, at best, 5-3 in the SEC this year after losses to Alabama, Texas A&M and South Carolina earlier in the season.
Tennessee, who beat the Gators 38-28 in September, would’ve owned the tiebreaker against Florida if both teams finished with the same conference record.
