Tennessee vs. BYU football: TV channel, game time, odds and predictions (September 7, 2019)
The BYU Cougars will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. central time.
The game will take place at Neyland Stadium, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Neyland Stadium has been the home of the Volunteers since it was built.
Both teams come into this game unranked and neither team received votes in the AP Top 25 poll this week.
This game is as close to a must win game that we will get this early in the season. Both teams enter this week sitting at 0-1 and are in desperate need of a win. Tennessee will travel to Florida in two weeks and it is very important that they find an identity and gain some momentum. BYU faces USC and Washington in back to back weeks following this game.
BYU Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers football TV channel
The BYU-Tennessee game will air on ESPN this Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. central time.
BYU Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers players to watch
If Tennessee is going to be an eight win team, the success of Jarrett Guarantano is crucial. Simply put, Guarantano has to improve to lead this Tennessee team to success. He has improved from season to season and Tennessee fans are very eager to see how he does this season. In the opener against Georgia State, Guarantano passed for 311 yards and added two touchdowns, but he did throw one interception.
Dayan Ghanwoloku is the key to shutting down Guarantano and the Vol passing game. Ghanwoloku is an elite defensive back who can play corner and free safety. He recorded four total tackles in last week’s game against Utah.
Darrell Taylor is the quarterback of the Tennessee defense. In 2018 he recorded eight sacks in nine starts. This year, he is a preseason first team All SEC player and is looking to have a monster year.
Zach Wilson threw for over 1500 yards in only seven starts last year after taking over the starting job from Tanner Mangum. Wilson led the team to a 4-3 record as a starter but the offense put up much better numbers with him under center. Look for Wilson to improve and look for the Cougar offense to be much more explosive this season.
BYU Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers football odds
Tennessee is currently favored by 3.5 points. The over/under is currently set at 53 points, up from 51 points earlier in the week.
BYU vs. Tennessee predictions
The following are the SDS staff picks for week 2, including the BYU vs. Tennessee game:
BYU Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers previous meetings
This will be the first meeting between the two schools!
BYU Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers future meetings
The two schools will play in 2023 in Utah.
Tennessee Volunteers Week One Review
The Tennessee Volunteers opened the season at home against the Georgia State Panthers. The game is now know as the biggest upset in Tennessee football history. The Vols had a 17-14 lead at halftime, but in the second half, GSU took advantage of Tennessee’s turnovers and miscues. The Georgia State Panthers ended up winning the game 38-30.
The Tennessee defense gave up 213 rushing yards to Georgia State. It’s obvious that the lack of ability to stop the run game and the inability to make in game adjustments is concerning. This Tennessee defense was the strength of the team coming into the season, but there is a definite concern in Rocky Top.
The Tennessee offense was not the problem against Georgia State. There is a concern in the running game department, because they only rushed for 93 yards against GSU. The passing game was almost perfect, though. Guarantano passed for 311 yards and added two touchdowns, but had a costly interception. It will be interesting to see how Tennessee preps for BYU this week, and to see what adjustments they make.
BYU Week One Review
BYU opened their season last Thursday night against the Utah Utes in the Holy War. The game had a slow and sluggish start, and Utah was only up 9-6 at halftime. In the second half, the Utes began to expose the Cougar run defense. BYU managed to score six more in the fourth, but by then it was too little too late. The Utes ended up winning 30-12.
Just like Tennessee, run defense was the problem for the BYU defense. They gave up 262 yards on the ground but only rushed for 92. The pass defense was not the problem. It will be interesting to see Tennessee’s rushing offense against BYU’s run defense, and vice versa.
Zach Wilson struggled this game. Really, the whole BYU offense struggled against Utah. They only rushed for 92 yards and passed for 208. Along with the 208 yards, Wilson also had two interceptions. The Cougars will need to be a lot better this weekend on both sides of the ball to get a much needed road win.
BYU in opening road games
Kalani Sitake is in his fourth year at BYU and his fourth year overall. Lets take a look at how he’s done in the first true road game of the season as a head coach:
-2016: BYU loss against Utah
-2017: BYU loss against Utah State
-2018: BYU loss against Washington
