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The Akron Zips take on the Tennessee Volunteers. Check out our college football odds series for our Akron Tennessee prediction and pick.
The Tennessee Volunteers did what they absolutely had to do in Week 2: Win. It didn't need to be pretty. It didn't need to be dominant. The Vols just had to beat Pittsburgh, someway and somehow, after losing to the Panthers one year ago. Not winning that game would have brought a firestorm of criticism down on head coach Josh Heupel, who is trying to build the Vols back to a place of prominence. Tennessee is trying to reach the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2007. It is trying to win the SEC title for the first time since 1998. The Vols have struggled for so long that the fan base has rightly lost patience. It is time for this program to reclaim its former place of stature and significance in the sport. Losing to Pitt would have been a disaster. Claiming a win in overtime is important.
However: Winning in overtime against an opponent whose starting quarterback, Kedon Slovis, got hurt during the game does not inspire maximum confidence in Tennessee for the road ahead. The Vols have to be much better on offense, and they generally need to be a lot more authoritative as a team in order to change perceptions in college football, especially within the SEC footprint. Heupel received a raise on Friday which brought his compensation package into the five-million-dollar club among head coaches. Now that he and his staff have been taken care of, Heupel needs to coach like a five-million-dollar man. He needs to get his offense to score in the 40s and 50s against SEC opponents. He needs to raise the bar sooner rather than later. The Pitt win, while obviously a good thing, did not significantly elevate national perceptions of the UT program. This game against Akron isn't going to prove a whole lot, but the very weak Zips are the kind of team Tennessee should be able to crush in a way which feeds into a sense of potency and capability in Knoxville.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Akron-Tennessee College Football odds.
College Football Odds: Akron-Tennessee Odds
Akron Zips: +47.5 (-112)
Tennessee Volunteers: -47.5 (-108)
Over: 66.5 (-110)
Under: 66.5 (-110)
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Why Akron Could Cover the Spread
Tennessee is coming off a draining overtime battle against Pittsburgh. The Vols will not have a full tank on a physical or mental level. The Vols are going to jog through this game, play a lot of backups, and generally not make a full-tilt, all-out effort to score as many points as they possibly can. That will enable the Zips to cover the spread. If Tennessee scores 49 points, Akron needs just a field goal to cover the spread.
Why Tennessee Could Cover the Spread
After failing to operate as smoothly and efficiently as possible against Pitt, Tennessee will want to come home, fix what is flawed, and produce a clean, organized, precise performance on offense against an Akron team which was rag-dolled by Michigan State one week ago. Akron is a very bad team, and Tennessee can unload on the Zips in Week 3 as a result.
Final Akron-Tennessee Prediction & Pick
If Akron lost 52-0 to Michigan State, it should lose by even more to Tennessee, given that the Vols have an offense which is noticeably more potent than the Spartans. Tennessee should be able to win this by at least 49 if not more.
Final Akron-Tennessee Prediction & Pick: Tennessee -47.5
