The college football season is creeping closer and closer. Next week, Josh Heupel will take the main stage at SEC Media Days in Tampa for the unofficial start to the football season. In just under three weeks, Tennessee will begin its fall practice as its march to kickoff gets closer and closer.
Expectations vary for Josh Heupel’s sixth Tennessee team. Most sportsbook set the regular season over/under win total at 7.5 games as the Vols prepare for a more difficult schedule including a nine-game conference slate.
College football expert Phil Steele joined the Tony Basilio Show earlier this week and provided a game-line for every Tennessee game this season. Steele is best known for his yearly preseason college football magazine with the Heisman Trophy voter using an analytics based formula to help predict the record of given teams.
So how does he view Tennessee’s 12 regular season games? Here’s the spreads he gave on the Tony Basilio Show.
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Week One
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee -49 Furman
Week Two
Location: Bobby Dodd Stadium
Tennessee -3 Georgia Tech
Week Three
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee -31 Kennesaw State
Week Four
Location: Neyland Stadium
Texas -4 Tennessee
Week Five
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee -7 Auburn
Week Six
Location: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Tennessee -6 Arkansas
Week Seven
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee E Alabama (Pick ‘Em)
Week Eight
Location: Williams-Brice Stadium
South Carolina -3 Tennessee
Week Nine
Open Date
Week 10
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee -14 Kentucky
Week 11
Location: Kyle Field
Texas A&M -7 Tennessee
Week 12
Location: Neyland Stadium
Tennessee -3 LSU
Week 13
Location: FirstBank Stadium
Tennessee -6 Vanderbilt
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Steele is a bit higher on Tennessee than most sportsbooks, favoring Tennessee in eight games while calling the Vols’ rivalry matchup against Alabama a pick ’em.
DraftKings released lines for five Tennessee games earlier this summer and Steele’s line was more in favor of the Vols in each of the five games. For instance, DraftKings has Texas a 6-point favorites against Tennessee, Alabama as 1.5-point favorites, Texas A&M as 9.5-point favorites, LSU as 1.5-point favorites and Tennessee as just 3.5-point favorites against Vanderbilt.
No one has previously released a line for Tennessee’s matchup against Georgia Tech. It is telling that Steele is high on Tennessee but still has them as just 3.5-point favorites.
