We’ll talk about this later: A true underdog story

Each week, we’ll break down something that happened during the Ohio State game (and occasionally other games) that we’ll be talking about for a while—you know, the silly sideline interactions, the awful announcing and the weird storylines that stick with us for years to come. We’ll also compare each of these happenings to memorable moments in pop culture, because who doesn’t love a good Office reference?

Ohio State may have been on a bye this week, but we can’t let slip the opportunity to highlight an underdog, especially when that underdog is actually a genuine Canis lupus familiaris doggo.

We are, of course, talking about Tennessee’s massive upset over Alabama Saturday. Alabama was favored by nine on the road in Knoxville. It helped that their Heisman-contender quarterback, Bryce Young, was back on the field after a brief hiatus. However, the storyline of an upset was simmering like a nice pumpkin chili during the crisp fall week preceding the matchup.

And of course, that’s what we got in super dramatic fashion Saturday evening. To close the afternoon slate of games, just as darkness fell in Knoxville and after a massive comeback on the part of the Crimson Tide, the sky lit up with fireworks as Chase McGrath knucklepucked a walk-off field goal to give the Vols a win in regulation. The Tennessee faithful stormed the field. We laughed at Nick Saban. We reveled in a rare loss from the perennial superpower.

But, we weren’t the real winners. The real victor in this magical moment was Smokey XI, the bluetick coonhound who so gracefully guards the Tennessee sideline. He’s been patiently waiting for his favorite program to beat the college football giant for the first time in his life.

He, and his predecessor, Smokey X, were probably so excited to see the kick fall through the goalposts and celebrate with their loving fans who came down from the stands to celebrate with them in that glorious scene.

Smokey probably got a lot of new fans this weekend. While I probably won’t be cheering for Tennessee from here on out (though we will all have some tough choices when choosing sides between Smokey and Uga in a few weeks), I do want Smokey to be happy. And it’s a better world we live in when the dogs are happy.

In the NFL realm, while I promise I’m not jumping ahead to Christmas and skipping Halloween, we must take a moment to revive the discussion that Joe Burrow is a well-adjusted Macaulay Culkin.

That way, we’ll be ready with all the memes when it comes time to break out Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.