Fearless Prediction: Tennessee vs. Pittsburgh

One of the best parts about college football is getting to watch games at different venues. Fans travel to campuses and cities/towns they likely would not go to otherwise, and they see teams up close that they rarely check out in person.

This is even better for out-of-conference games. Think about how much fun the home-and-home series was for Notre Dame-Georgia a few years ago, or for Ohio State-Oklahoma. This season, you have Alabama-Texas and Penn State-Auburn, games that fans have looked forward to for years.

Unfortunately, these games are going the way of the tape deck more and more each season. Programs would rather take the (almost always) guaranteed win over a non-Power 5 opponent (and home stadium ticket gate) than to challenge themselves. Or they leave campus for a neutral-site NFL stadium. Conference realignment hasn’t helped, either.

Over the past 20 years, Tennessee has seen a bunch of great trips canceled (for one reason or another). That list includes excursions to Wyoming, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma and BYU.

One day, out-of-conference home-and-home series will be extinct, and we will be left with only neutral-site games, like a Utah vs. Rutgers matchup … played in Indianapolis. Yippee!

Let’s enjoy these games while we can.

Tennessee fans will make the journey to Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon to watch a rematch of last season’s game, which was won by the Panthers, 41-34, at Neyland Stadium. It’ll be the 1st time the Vols play an out-of-conference road game since their 2014 trip to Oklahoma.

Pittsburgh had a future NFL first-round Draft pick in Kenny Pickett at quarterback, and it hopes his replacement can be just as effective. Southern Cal transfer Kedon Slovis has already endeared himself to Panthers fans, throwing for 308 yards and 1 score in last week’s win over rival West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl.

The Panthers look to Rodney Hammond Jr. in the run game most of the time. He got 16 carries for 74 yards against the Mountaineers. That’s less than 5 yards per carry, but he did score twice. Jared Wayne and Konata Mumpfield are Slovis’ top 2 targets in the passing game.

Last year, Hendon Hooker got his 1st significant action as a Vol in that loss to Pittsburgh, filling in for an injured Joe Milton. Hooker played well, and he has been Tennessee’s starting quarterback ever since.

Tennessee’s offense looks as potent as ever, scoring 59 points in the season opener against Ball State. Ten different Vols caught a pass. Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright were joined by true freshman Dylan Sampson as options in the running game. Yes, Hooker has a lot of help.

Pittsburgh’s defense is a physical group that will do all it can to knock Hooker to the ground. Linebacker Bangally Kamara and defensive lineman John Morgan III are coming off terrific Backyard Brawl performances. Kamara had a team-high 8 tackles, while Morgan came up with 3 tackles for loss with 1 sack, 2 QB hurries and 1 forced fumble.

The Vols’ defense was opportunistic against Ball State, coming away with 3 turnovers. But that was a Cardinals team with few players who were a serious threat, so I’m not sure how much we can take from that game. Pittsburgh will be a much tougher test for that unit.

This game is the 2nd Johnny Majors Classic, which is named after the man who meant so much to both universities. Majors was a legendary player and coach at UT, and a national championship-winning coach at Pittsburgh.

One of Majors’ most well-known sayings to his players was, “Attack. Attack. Attack. Always attack.” Tennessee’s offense has taken that to heart, scoring at least 45 points in each of its last 4 ballgames, matching a program record.

Pittsburgh allowed 374 yards of offense against the Vols a year ago, and Hooker only played part of that game. Expect the Vols to score early and often in the rematch, and for the Tennessee defense to do just enough to secure victory.

Fearless Prediction time …

Tennessee 45, Pittsburgh 38.