Tennessee vs. Pitt: Prediction and preview

Tennessee looks to improve to 2-0 with a rematch win over No. 17 Pitt Saturday at 3:30 pm EST on ABC.

Tennessee vs. Pitt Preview

Here we go.

The Vols are ranked for the first time under Josh Heupel, coming in at No. 24 in the most recent AP Poll. Their reward? No. 17 Pitt on the road.

Tennessee football will show you what it’s all about Saturday evening at around 7 pm EST. If the Vols walk out of Acrisure Stadium on top, Josh Heupel will have scored his best win in Knoxville and Tennessee will (very, very likely) be 3-0 heading into Neyland Stadium against Florida on Sept. 24.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One foot in front of the other here.

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Pitt delivered one of the most exciting games of the Week 1 slate against West Virginia and seems plenty capable of pulling off the upset (yes, Tennessee is favored -6.5). The offense was buzzing under USC transfer Kedon Slovis and running back Rodney Hammond, the defense… well, defense tried its best. More on that later.

Slovis is head coach Pat Narduzzi’s answer for the departure of Kenny Pickett. He played well against the Mountaineers, but he’s just one of Pitt’s changes that simply doesn’t hold a candle to the weapons on last year’s squad. Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is out in Lincoln getting thrown under the bus by Scott Frost while 2021 Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison now resides in Southern Cal, seemingly traded for Slovis with the USC Trojans.

Tennessee, however, is more or less the same team, if not better after a year to grow and mature. Quarterback Hendon Hooker will play all 4 quarters of this one and the Vols offense will be electric as always. Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy are sure to be problems for a Pitt secondary that really, really struggled last Thursday. I’m personally interested to see how left tackle Gerald Mincey holds up after surprisingly good performance in the season opener.

Pitt’s D-line did not do well against the run Thursday. West Virginia did whatever it wanted through freshman running back CJ Donaldson, who rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries. Tony Mathis Jr. added 71 rushing yards himself.

Conversely, they did very well against the pass. Daniels was hounded all evening, completing just barely over 50% of his 40 throws and being sacked 3 times. The Panthers hurried Daniels plenty and forced a couple fumbles, recovering 1.

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So, just to review: Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright should be able to gash Pitt’s defensive line as long as the Cooper Mays, Jerome Carvin and company show up. If Hooker can properly make his pre-snap reads and get the ball out quickly, there’s very little a struggling secondary can do to stop it.

It is so much easier said than done, but this should be a tough one for the Panthers this go around.

Prediction

I really believe the Panthers are outmatched this week. Tennessee’s offense is just going to be too difficult to stop and they have something to prove. Is it crazy to call this Heupel’s most important game as a Vol so far, even as a non-conference game? I’d say Florida last season was up there, as was Ole Miss in Neyland. Both ended up in the loss column.

They’ll come out on top this time in another high-scoring affair.

Prediction: Tennessee 45, Pitt 38