Tennessee football returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon to face New Mexico State in its final non conference game of 2025 season. The Vols are all but out of the College Football Playoff hunt but they’re looking to close the season strong starting with the matchup against the Aggies.
The Vols are massive favorites ahead of the matchup. Here’s three keys for Tennessee football to take care of business and feel good leaving the New Mexico State game.
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Start Fast
There’s no quicker way to smash any upset thoughts on the New Mexico State sideline then by jumping out to a sizable early lead. That should be doable for Tennessee against an Aggies’ defense that has struggled for the vast majority of the season.
Tennessee starting the game fast would also prove as a sign that Josh Heupel’s team is still locked into the season and believes that have plenty to play for despite being eliminated from College Football Playoff contention.
The Vols can get away with a slow start and still win this game, but it would be a troubling sign for the regular season closing matchups with Florida and Vanderbilt. Tennessee has excelled at putting away lesser opponents early in games under Heupel. Let’s see if they do it again here.
Finish Drives In The End Zone
Tennessee’s offense moved the ball up-and-down the field against Oklahoma in the first half two weeks ago. But the Vols ended the half with just seven points and a six point deficit.
The Vols need to change that in this game. There’s no reason that Tennessee should be unable to do so. While the Vols’ running game has been shaky at times this season, they should be able to line up and run the ball right at New Mexico State with little issue.
If they do that, only self inflicted mistakes — whether penalties or turnovers — will keep Tennessee out of the end zone once they getting in scoring range. That’s been a downfall at times for Tennessee this season. Let’s see if they can play complimentary football against an outmatched team.
Get Backup Quarterbacks Work
How Josh Heupel handles his backup quarterback rotation is perhaps the most interesting area to watch in this game. Against UAB, Jake Merklinger played four drives while George MacIntyre didn’t play a single drive. Surely that will not be the case in this game.
We haven’t seen either quarterback since the UAB game so Merklinger is still the backup, plausibly. But MacIntyre seems to have a much better chance of starting next season. It will be much more interesting to watch how MacIntyre performs in this game compared to Merklinger.
Of course, Heupel can maximize the snaps for both if Tennessee jumps out to a fast start and he pulls Joey Aguilar from the game to begin the second half.
