We’re just days from Tennessee football and Syracuse meeting on the gridiron to get the 2025 season started. Ahead of the real-life meeting, I fired up the College Football 26 video game to simulate the neutral-site matchup.
The result was a high-scoring affair that saw the Vols take an early and commanding lead. We’ll see how accurate the video game version is when UT meets the Orange on Saturday at noon ET in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will air on ABC.
Here are the full results and stats of the simulation:
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Score:
Tennessee – 53
Syracuse – 25
Scoring Summary:
1Q:
(Tenn) Team safety, 13:17, 2-0
(Tenn) M. Gilbert, 41 yd FG, 11:22, 5-0
(Tenn) M. Matthews 42 yd pass from J. Aguilar, 5:47, 12-0
(Tenn) B. Staley 21 yd pass from J. Aguilar, 2:19, 19-0
2Q:
(Tenn) C. Hood, returned interception 8 yds, 10:39, 26-0
(Tenn) D. Bishop, 3 yd run, 5:15, 33-0
(Cuse) W. Nixon, 1 yd run, 4:13, 33-7
(Tenn) D. Bishop, 2 yd run, 1:37, 40-7
3Q:
(Cuse) J. Kennedy, 49 yd FG, 10:57, 40-10
(Cuse) Y. Willis, 15 yd run, 5:51, 40-17
4Q:
(Cuse) S. Angeli, 1 yd run (2-point conversion), 12:02, 40-25
(Tenn) M. Gilbert 52-yd FG, 8:50, 43-25
(Tenn) P. Lewis, 4 yd run, 0:20, 53-25
Team Stats:
Total Offense…
Tennessee – 442
Syracuse – 326
Rushes | Yards | TD…
Tennessee – 37 | 193 | 3
Syracuse – 33 | 27 | 3
Comp | Att | TD…
Tennessee – 17 | 29 | 2
Syracuse – 23 | 46 | 0
Passing Yards…
Tennessee – 249
Syracuse – 299
Player Stats:
Passing…
(UT) J. Aguilar – 17-of-29, 249 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
(SU) S. Angeli – 23-of-46, 299 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
Rushing…
(UT) S. Thomas – 18 attempts, 119 yards, 1 fumble
(UT) J. Aguilar – 10 attempts, 28 yards
(UT) P. Lewis – 5 attempts, 10 yards, 1 TD
(UT) D. Bishop – 4 attempts, 36 yards, 2 TD
(SU) Y. Willis – 16 attempts, 50 yards, 1 TD
(SU) S. Anglei – 12 attempts, -36 yards, 1 TD
(SU) W. Nixon – 5 attempts, 13 yards, 1 TD
Receiving…
(UT) B. Staley – 8 receptions, 93 yards, 1 TD
(UT) C. Brazzell – 5 receptions, 72 yards
(UT) M. Matthews – 2 receptions, 57 yards, 1 TD
(UT) A. Jefferson – 1 reception, 11 yards
(UT) S. Thomas – 1 reception, 16 yards
(SU) D. Gill – 7 receptions, 101 yards
(SU) J. Cook – 6 receptions, 105 yards
(SU) Y. Willis – 4 receptions, 20 yards
(SU) E. Ross – 3 receptions, 33 yards
(SU) D. Villari – 2 receptions, 26 yards
(SU) J. Ross-Simmons – 1 reception, 14 yards
Defense…
(UT) R. Gibson – 8 tackles, 2 INT
(UT) J.Telander – 7 tackles, 2 TFL, 0.5 sacks
(UT) J. Moi – 4 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks
(UT) J. Josephs – 5 tackles, 2 TFL, 1.5 sacks
(UT) C. Hood – 1 tackle, 1 INT, 1 TD
(SU) D. Kerr – 8 tackles
(SU) K. Jobity – 6 tackles, 3 TFL, 0.5 sacks
(SU) D. Omopariola – 5 tackles, 3 TFL, 0.5 sacks
(SU) D. Grant – 7 tackles, 1 INT
