Fox Sports’ Stewart Mandel isn’t writing off Appalachian State before its season opener at Tennessee Thursday. The analyst wrote that the Mountaineers shouldn’t be overlooked during his opening week mailbag Wednesday:

If you’re looking for a more shocking prospect, though, how about Thursday night’s Appalachian State-Tennessee game? Expectations have not been this high for the Vols in nearly a decade, and a lot of people are already looking ahead to their Week 2 game against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway. But don’t overlook the Mountaineers, who won 11 games last season while producing a defense that ranked 11th nationally. That’d upset the apple cart.

Mandel also answered several other SEC-related questions including Alabama’s game against USC, LSU and the Tide both making the College Football Playoff and several quarterback battles. You can read his entire mailbag here.