Tennessee Vols vs. Alabama on CBS: What does that say about the SEC?

When CBS announced it would televise the Alabama-Tennessee game Saturday, the consensus reaction was something like: “Why?”

But its decision speaks volumes about SEC football. Although Alabama is still in the running for another national championship, the SEC isn’t what it used to be.

More:How Tennessee Vols can survive Alabama

In 2012, the SEC won a seventh consecutive national championship. Its depth of team talent was almost as impressive as the national championships.

Now you have Alabama at No. 1 and Georgia at No. 3. The drop-off is significant after that.

So significant, in fact, that Alabama (7-0, 4-0) vs. Tennessee (3-3, 0-3) really made sense for CBS. Would you rather have Auburn vs. Arkansas, Kentucky vs. Mississippi State or Ole Miss vs. LSU?

Never mind that Alabama has won 10 consecutive games against Tennessee. Or that only two of the games were close. Or that the average margin of victory is 23.2 points.

The CBS crew knows that the suspense might expire before halftime. And it will come prepared.

More:Tennessee vs. Alabama predictions? Our experts agree on Crimson Tide

How would Alabama match up with Georgia if they met for the SEC championship?

How would Alabama match up with Clemson if they met again for the national championship?

Is Alabama’s passing game sufficiently developed to win a national title?

See. There are plenty of talking points.

And that’s just Alabama.

Tennessee coach Butch Jones’ job status is another compelling storyline. Will he be fired? When will he be fired?

And if the game really gets out of hand, analyst Gary Danielson can spend half the fourth quarter talking about how deep Alabama is at running back.

Alabama 45, Tennessee 13: This is Alabama’s eighth consecutive game without a break. It might be tired. It might get bored. If it's tired and bored enough, the Vols might not even see its No. 4 running back.

LSU 34, Ole Miss 27: As difficult as this season has been for the Landsharks – or whatever Ole Miss is calling itself this week – seeing coach Ed Orgeron on the LSU sideline will remind them that things could be worse. The Rebels lost 25 of 35 games when Orgeron was their coach from 2005 through 2007.

Mississippi State 27, Kentucky 24: The season is more than half done, and the Wildcats are still in the running for the SEC East championship. What does that tell you? The Wildcats are better. The East isn’t.

Auburn 37, Arkansas 17:  If misery truly loves company, these two should fall in love this weekend. Auburn blew a huge lead in losing to LSU on Saturday, and the Razorbacks got hammered by Alabama 41-10.

Missouri 45, Idaho 23: The crowd at Missouri’s Memorial Stadium should be small enough to fit into Idaho’s Kibbie Dome.

Record: 51-13 (.797) overall, 35-19 (.648) against the spread.

Reach John Adams at john.adams@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6284 and on Twitter @johnadamskns.