The Volunteers are massive favorites, as expected.
After losing to Georgia last weekend in Athens, Tennessee has one choice. The Volunteers have to win these next two convincingly and hope for a little bit of help to be sure. Tennessee fell to No. 11 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, which places them just outside of the projected 12-team field.
Tennessee could still find their way into the field in a number of different ways. Notre Dame has a couple of interesting games left, Ole Miss has to go to Florida on Saturday, Indiana finally has a true test against Ohio State and Penn State has a potentially tricky spot at Minnesota.
All of that aside, the Volunteers have to take care of business on their own schedule first. That includes a senior day matchup against UTEP, and a big one next week against Vanderbilt.
UTEP, just 2-8 on the year, is a get-right spot for Tennessee. The offense has been largely inconsistent in SEC play, despite improved play from quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The defense has suddenly gone in the wrong direction, giving up several chunk plays to both Georgia and Mississippi State. Ahead of a key road trip to Nashville next week, the Volunteers have a chance to reset here.
Tennessee is a 41.5 point favorite over UTEP. The total is set at 52.5.
According to ESPN’s FPI, Tennessee has already faced the worst FBS team (Kent State) this year. This weekend against UTEP, they’ll face the sixth worst.
There’s some familiarity here, too. UTEP head coach Scotty Walden came over from Austin Peay last offseason, the same Austin Peay team that had Tennessee feeling very uneasy last year in Knoxville. Walden’s Governors lost 30-13, but that was just a ten point game late in the fourth quarter. Austin Peay went on to win nine straight games after that, making the FCS playoff field.
Walden hasn’t found that success in year one of a rebuild at UTEP, however. The Miners have only beaten Kennesaw State and FIU so far this year. UTEP lost at Nebraska, their only other P4 opponent this year, 40-7 to open the year.
Kickoff between Tennessee and UTEP is set for 1 p.m. ET. The game will not be on traditional cable, but you can stream it on ESPN+ or SEC Network+ on the ESPN app.