Tennessee football is uniquely positioned.

The No. 8 Vols (7-2, 4-2 SEC) control their own fate for a College Football Playoff berth. They’re fresh off an emotional, resume-defining win and have a road game against a talented but underperforming opponent next on the slate.

Sound familiar? It’s the exact same boat Tennessee was in a little over three weeks ago. The Vols dominated Alabama from start to finish, looking destined for an undisputed path to the CFP if they could take care of business at Williams-Brice Stadium the next week.

A failed fourth-down attempt and a George MacIntyre strip-sack later, and the Vols were no longer on the right side of the scoreboard. A stinging loss to South Carolina put a halt to the progress Tennessee was making this season.

And after a bye week to recoup, a dominating win over No. 6 Kentucky puts the Vols right back in the same situation with Kyle Field awaiting a matchup against struggling Texas A&M.

This time, the Vols have to get it right. There is no margin for error in November.

“You can look at the way that they played last weekend (at South Carolina),” Heupel said. “Offense (had) 460 yards of offense. Alabama, a couple weeks ago, they got the lead at the end of the third quarter. It’s a really good football team. It’ll be a great environment. I’ve been there before, and it will take us being at our best.”

Texas A&M sports one of the most tantalizing seasons in the conference this season. The Aggies have mightily fallen since making a CFP appearance a season ago, and quarterback play has been a major reason for it.

Marcel Reed, a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, has thrown for just 1,641 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. For reference, Faizon Brandon has eight passing touchdowns and has only started five of the Vols’ nine games.

The Aggies are 91st nationally in total offense at 359 yards per game. They are 105th in passing offense (198 YPG) and 60th in rushing offense (161 YPG).

On paper, there isn’t much of a challenge posed from an Aggies offense that has scored 62 points against five ranked opponents this season. Even that is boosted by 21 points against Kentucky and 20 against Alabama — Texas A&M has scored 6, 6 and 9 points in the other three games.

But the Tennessee defense has to come out firing because it hasn’t played its best ball on the road. The Vols’ defensive unit gives up 23 points per game in road games, compared to just 13.6 at home with Texas being the only team to eclipse 20.

“That's one of the biggest takeaways that we have going into this week,” linebacker Jeremiah Telander said. ”We have to pack the defense, and we're going to do that this week. And it's funny, because at home, the games are even louder than away games. We handle it fine when there's 100,000 screaming at home, and we're communicating with hand signals. So we just gotta take it to the road and close the deal.”

Familiarity comes from within for the Vols’ program. Arion Carter and Marcel Reed were high school 7-on-7 teammates, and the pair of SEC starters train together in Nashville during the offseason. Edge rusher Jordan Norman played against Aggies’ wide receiver Mario Craver in high school. Defensive back Kayin Lee also played with Craver in 7-on-7 in high school.

Lee’s familiarity comes even more recently, as the Auburn transfer played against Reed and the Aggies last season. It allows him to use prior film study and pick out what’s evolved for the mobile quarterback. He remembers the fits Reed gave him a season ago.

“On the perimeter, when he gets loose with his feet, for the most part and the extending plays type of thing — that's very challenging for a lot of defenses when you got a mobile quarterback that can extend plays with his legs,” Lee said. “So just being able to hone in on that and being able to focus on knowing we got to cage the quarterback, and that type of thing. We can all work together with that.”

Tennessee kicks off at 3 p.m. ET at Kyle Field in an “Operation Blackout” game for the Aggies. A down year won’t ease the challenge in a league dictated by week-by-week results.

“We believe in our routine,” Telander said. “Obviously, we're gonna change the things here and there, what worked and what didn't, but the routine isn't the problem.”

Source: Yahoo Sports