Each week, the two sports editors and football beat writers at The Daily Beacon, Josh Lane and Andrew Peters, give their keys and predictions to Tennessee’s upcoming football matchup.
This week, the No. 15 Vols have a non-conference matchup against Akron at home. Tennessee is looking to start 3-0 for the first time since 2016 before its rivalry game with Florida next week.
Keys
Josh Lane
1. Get Jabari Small Involved
If there’s a critique to be made against Tennessee’s offense that has outscored opponents 93-37 over the first two weeks of the season, it’s been a lack of Jabari Small. The junior Small is the most veteran back in Tennessee’s offense, and though he figured to be the primary carrier entering the year, it’s not been the case through two games.
Small does lead the Vols with 23 carries, but it is only one more than the sophomore Jaylen Wright. Small is not the Vols’ leading rusher, however, that’s Wright, who has totaled 135 rushing yards and is averaging 67.5 yards per game. Small has averaged 40 yards per game.
Tennessee is most likely going to beat Akron even if Small does not get more involved, but that might not be the case in the future when competition gets stiffer. He does lead all Tennessee skill players with three total touchdowns, but the Vols need him to be a more consistent part of their offense.
2. No Letdown
Tennessee is coming off what was arguably the best win in the Josh Heupel era – an overtime victory on the road against a ranked Pitt team. The Vols have lost a seemingly endless number of those types of games in the past, and even some since Heupel took over last year – anyone remember Ole Miss?
Now that the Vols have won a close, meaningful game, the goal is to not suffer a letdown. To his part, Heupel has always had his team’s mindset in the right place with not overlooking an opponent – and it certainly helps that they are facing an Akron team that ranks 121st in college football in points per game.
Andrew Peters
1. Get Up Early and Avoid Injuries
This game shouldn’t be a close one, and Tennessee needs to build an early lead and pull its starters as early as possible. The worst scenario for this game would be leaving starters in and getting injuries before a huge game next week against Florida.
This would also be a great chance for the Vols to get guys like Joe Milton some reps. From here on out, Hooker will likely be playing the entire four quarters of games, so there aren’t a ton of opportunities for Milton to get playing time.
2. Work Out Kinks Before Florida
Tennessee was good against Pittsburgh last week, but nowhere near perfect. Akron is a great opportunity for the Vols to nail down some last minute kinks before taking on rival Florida next week.
The Vols had a lot of mishaps last week. Dropped catches, a blocked punt, a muffed punt and a fumble all hurt the Vols and Saturday is a chance to clean up a little bit. It’s still early in the season, but Tennessee won’t get away with sloppy play against Alabama, Georgia and company. Now is the time to make sure the Vols don’t have mistakes like they did last week.
Predictions
Vegas
Spread: Tennessee -47.5
O/U: 67
Josh Lane
This is Tennessee’s last easy prediction for a couple of weeks. Depending on the sports book, the Vols are entering this matchup anywhere from a 47.5 to 50 point favorite, something they have never done before in the history of their program.
I don’t think the Vols will necessarily cover an outrageous 50-point spread, but they will cruise to their third win of the season.
Tennessee 56, Akron 7
Andrew Peters
Tennessee proved that it was a top-15 or so team in the country. Top teams don’t lose gimme-games against non-Power 5 teams and Tennessee won’t on Saturday.
The Vols offense will shine, their defense will shut down Akron and they will be 3-0 for the first time since 2016. It is also worth noting that the Vols were 3-0 the last time they beat Florida, also in 2016.
Tennessee 55, Akron 7
