The ESPN College GameDay crew seemed to be all in on the Tennessee Volunteers beating the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night, but in the end, the cast ended up being split down the middle for the primetime matchup.
The No. 18 Sooners travel to No. 14 Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Neyland Stadium in what ESPN has advertised all week as an elimination game for the College Football Playoff with both teams entering Week 10 at 6-2. Although the GameDay crew couldn't find a consensus on which team will keep its hopes alive, none of them actually had real hope in the Sooners.
Pat McAfee and Alex Smith pick Sooners over Volunteers
With it being the primetime game on ABC, Oklahoma-Tennessee was one of the last games the GameDay crew picked Saturday morning from Utah. It looked at first like the entire panel was going to choose the Volnteers with Desmond Howard (of course) and Nick Saban picking Tennessee to beat OU. Saban said he didn't believe the Sooners will be able to keep up with Tennessee's offense that leads the SEC in total offense and scoring offense.
Pat McAfee, who tends to believe in the Sooners, admitted he really likes Tennessee at home in the matchup, but in fear of a clean sweep on the board, McAfee talked himself into the Sooners.
"I was going to take Tennessee, but I'll take Oklahoma strictly because we're all seeing it the same way. There's no way we can be right," McAfee said. "Oklahoma and (quarterback John) Mateer could use this as a jump-off game to what he was in the first four games as opposed to what has happened."
Celebrity guest Alex Smith, who played quarterback at Utah before an NFL career, then also picked the Sooners, ultimately because his niece and nephew are OU fans and he wants to be the favorite uncle.
Kirk Herbstreit did not make a prediction because he'll be on the call.