When LSU heads to vaunted Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee, the Tigers will be kicking off in the day.
The Nov. 21 contest has been set for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will air on ESPN or ABC.
If LSU beats Texas this weekend, the Tigers’ matchup with the Volunteers could be their ticket back into the College Football Playoff. Back-to-back wins over ranked opponents could be enough to outweigh LSU’s losses to ranked Ole Miss, Kentucky and Alabama.
If Lane Kiffin and the Tigers (6-3, 3-3 SEC) lose this weekend at home, their chances of making the playoff will be reduced to near-zero before they make the trip to Knoxville, Tennessee.
The CFP-ranked No. 13 Volunteers (7-2, 4-2) are very much in the mix to make the 12-team postseason field, especially after a 34-6 win over No. 6 Kentucky. Tennessee’s two losses came by three points apiece to Texas and a surging South Carolina squad.
The Volunteers face Texas A&M this week, and they will close the regular season against in-state SEC foe Vanderbilt.
Tennessee did receive some bad news this week, though. The team’s leader in sacks, Tyree Weathersby, is out for the year with a knee injury, according to multiple reports. He is the Volunteers’ eighth player to be sidelined for the season.
LSU is hoping one of its best defensive players, linebacker Whit Weeks, could return at some point. He was listed as “doubtful” on the SEC’s availability reports throughout the week of the Alabama game before ultimately being ruled out for a fifth straight contest.
It might seem advantageous to LSU that its road game in Knoxville won’t be at night. But Neyland Stadium set a noise record during a 2:30 p.m. kickoff last month against Alabama, hitting 130.3 decibels.
