Back to Tennessee. It's about matchups.
We have a really good secondary, and they have a QB with issues throwing the ball. Therefore they will likely do what they did last year, which was play it close to the vest and try to win with the QB running a lot. Last year's game shouldn't have been close, but they took advantage of the newness of our staff and the learning curve of the team with the new schemes. Realizing that we were still running a lot of base and working to install the defense, they ran some trick plays which gained them big plays and big yards. With a year to get over the hump, I expect the defense to be more cohesive and react better as a group to unexpected situations, i.e., defend trick plays better.
I see the defense lining up in a lot of man and putting 8 in the box. If we can keep our discipline on the d line we can minimize the QB scramble. I really feel like we have the defense to match up and stop their O. The offense should be a push, we might not be better than last year's game, but we shouldn't be worse, so we should be able to score some. If nothing else, we can now kick field goals.
No, I feel pretty good about UT. I think we get a solid, workmanlike victory.