These are the games we live for. When summer drags slowly across a parched south, it’s the promise of early October, with two top 10 undefeated SEC teams facing off, that keeps the football fan moving, hoping and waiting for another great game.

Tennessee being here isn’t really a surprise. The Vols were the preseason favorite in the East. But the Aggies? A&M was picked fourth in the West by the preseason media poll and got 3-of-331 votes to win the division. But here it is, now favored by around a touchdown in what looks to be the biggest SEC game of the year to date. Time to put on the old prediction hat — and to feel bold about it:

Ricky Seals-Jones has a big game — if he can play

The Volunteers’ secondary hasn’t been very effective, in large part due to the loss of all-everything CB Cam Sutton. Tennessee still has enough talent to do an adequate job on A&M’s two most obvious big-play wideouts, Christian Kirk and Josh Reynolds. But it’s in the nickel and dime packages where Tennessee’s depth issues will surface (see Jacob Eason’s 47-yard TD pass last week), and Seals-Jones is due for a big game. That said, he sat out last week with a minor injury as did reserve receiver Speedy Noil. Kevin Sumlin has played it close to the vest with injury information this week. So somebody — Seals Jones, Noil or Jeremy Tabuyo, who played last week — will have a big game as Trevor Knight’s third option.

Trevor Knight will pass for 300 yards, rush for under 50

After five games, the surprise with A&M is the run/pass balance, particularly with help from Knight. But Tennessee has a pretty stout run defense and struggles at times in the secondary. Knight has outrushed Josh Dobbs on the season, but he won’t do it Saturday. Knight will pass for 300 yards but run for under 50.

Alvin Kamara rushes for 100 yards

You won’t hear about it from folks in Knoxville, but RB Jalen Hurd has been a mild disappointment this season. Hurd is running at just 4.0 yards per pop and has a long play of just 28 yards. The guess here is that Tennessee’s more explosive back, Kamara, will be featured more prominently against A&M. A&M’s defense will be aggressive and will get into the Tennessee backfield, but Kamara will notch just his third 100-yard game with the team and hit some big plays.

Tennessee is sending in The Wolf

A&M doesn’t utilize the tight end in its passing game, so they don’t tend to see a receiving tight end much in practice. For Tennessee to control this game, Dobbs has to be able to hit some play-action plays, particularly to the sure-handed Ethan Wolf, who is a little under-utilized anyway this year. Look for Wolf to make a big catch or two late in this game, particularly in the red zone, where A&M has been tough this season.

The curse of five strikes A&M — for the fifth time in a row

For the last four seasons, A&M has lost the game after its fifth win. A 5-1 A&M lost to LSU in 2012, 5-1 A&M lost to Auburn in 2013, 5-0 A&M lost to Mississippi State in 2014 and 5-0 A&M lost to Alabama last year. On paper, Tennessee looks more banged up and still has some major questions offensively and defensively. But games aren’t played on paper, and A&M has its own midseason collapse history to deal with. At some point, it may just be Tennessee’s year. And if it can get by A&M on Saturday, that gets much more likely. It says here that A&M’s five curse strikes for the fifth time, and Tennessee wins on an Aaron Medley field goal.