The Tennessee Volunteers are a team very anxious to make strides on defense this season. On Sunday they kick off their 2014 season by taking on a challenging non-conference game against the Utah State Aggies, who have high hopes after season where they went to a bowl game and now get back their injured quarterback. College football betting action gets underway at 7 PM ET at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. This is the first meeting between these two teams, and it will be televised live over the SEC Network.
Matt Wells, the former offensive coordinator at Utah State, was elevated to the head-coaching position after Gary Andersen left for Wisconsin. He went 9-5 in his first year, taking his team to the Poinsettia Bowl, where the Aggies beat Northern Illinois 21-14. Butch Jones goes into his third season at Tennessee, having previously been with Central Michigan and Cincinnati. He has had to go through the “rebuilding” stage, and last season the Volunteers went 5-7 both straight up and against the football pointspread. He looks forward to further development out of quarterback Justin Worley and hopes that experience in the secondary will serve to improve that unit.
In the college football betting lines that have been established at BetAnySports, Tennessee is the favorite at home:
College Football Betting Odds Courtesy of BetAnySports NCAA Sportsbook
Tennessee Volunteers -4
Utah State Aggies +4
Over 51 Points -110
Under 51 Points -110
Utah State is excited by the return of Chuckie Keeton, a quarterback who does what you are looking for him to do when you go on the road, which is to avoid turnovers. His ratio of touchdowns to interceptions has been stellar (56-13). But he has been injury prone; he hurt his knee against BYU in the sixth game of the season and was lost for the rest of the year. Darrell Garretson filled in ably for him, as the Aggies made a drive that resulted in their post-season berth. However, Keeton is the acknowledged leader of this team when healthy.
Utah State has covered 15 of its last 19 games as a road underdog against the college football betting odds, but they have a largely rebuilt offensive line, with four new members. That might not be a big handicap, we suppose, since Tennessee must replace all three of its down linemen on the defensive side, and was rather vulnerable to opposing rushing attacks last season (5.3 yards per carry last year).
What BetAnySports customers should be looking for out of the Vols this year is some progress on the part of Worley, who through 10 touchdown passes and eight interceptions as a freshman. Tennessee has recruited well at the running back position, but much of the success of the ground attack, not to mention the performance of Worley, will probably depend on the offensive line, which is all new.
Utah State lost some key people on defense, and that’s too bad, because this team gave up just 2.8 yards per carry last season. But they have a former Volunteer in the secondary. Daniel Gray, who reportedly runs a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, is certainly a welcome addition after transferring over from Tennessee. Certainly Jones could have used him, inasmuch as as his pass defense was ranked 109th in the country last season. We’ll see what happens, as Tennessee brings all of those starters back.
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