ESPN’s SP+ projects the score of Tennessee vs. Syracuse
By Jacob Moss
Published:
ESPN college football analyst Bill Connolly recently dropped his Week 1 SP+ projections, and they included a very interesting outcome for the Tennessee Volunteers in their matchup against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday.
The SP+ takes several different factors and stats into account for each team and uses them to formulate rankings for ESPN, while also projecting the outcome of a given game.
This advanced metric has the Vols soundly defeating the Orange in their neutral site match-up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium down in Atlanta, projecting a final score of 34-18.
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The projection actually has Tennessee outperforming the spread, as they currently sit at -13.5 point favorites as of this writing, meaning that the SP+ projects that the Vols will cover this initial spread and then some against Syracuse.
It’s been a very turbulent offseason for Tennessee, as the program parted ways with its star quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, due to disputes over NIL arrangements. This means that fifth-year head coach Josh Heupel has been forced to go with a new man under center in App State transfer Joey Aguilar, who will be making his first start in orange and white this Saturday against the Orange.
If the SP+ ends up being correct, then Aguilar’s first start as a Volunteer looks like it will be a very successful start to his tenure as Tennessee’s next gunslinger.
