We’re now just over two weeks from real, live college football. The Tennessee Volunteers will start the Josh Heupel era this season, once again hitting the reset button as they try to build back into an SEC contender. Doing that in year one won’t be easy, especially after the Volunteers lost so much talent to the transfer portal.
Tennessee was picked to finish 5th in the SEC East by the media this season, as Heupel looks to lay a foundation in year one.
Over at VSIN, they’ve come up with projected spreads for each Tennessee game this fall. They project the Vols to be favored in six games, and underdogs in six games.
Below are the projected lines for each matchup
VSIN’s projected spreads for each 2021 Tennessee game
Bowling Green -28
Pittsburgh -0.5
Tennessee Tech -37
at Florida +16
at Missouri +8
South Carolina -7.5
Ole Miss +2.5
at Alabama +28.5
at Kentucky +7
Georgia +14
South Alabama -21
Vanderbilt -14
“If the Vols have hope, the schedule could offer four nonleague wins at Neyland Stadium and Heupel should be able to scrape out a couple of SEC wins. It’s that soft nonleague slate, however, that makes us think the Vols can get to .500.” – Bruce Marshall
A couple of these spreads are interesting, the first of which being the Pittsburgh game. The Panthers will be the first true test for this team in what should be a fairly even matchup. Per VSIN’s numbers, Pittsburgh will come to Neyland as a slight underdog.
Both Missouri and Kentucky are favored by more than a touchdown over Tennessee, while the Vols are favored over South Carolina by 7.5. Each of these three spreads feel too big. The Ole Miss spread, on the other hand, feels too small as Lane Kiffin enters year two.
It’s early, and so much will change as the games begin, but it’s fun to look down the road a little bit. What stands out to you?
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