Is Tennessee vs Mississippi State a Trap Game for the Volunteers?

Is the Mississippi State game a trap game for the Tennessee Volunteers?

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel during a NCAA football game between Tennessee and Georgia at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 13, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Is the Mississippi State game a trap game for the Tennessee Volunteers?

The Tennessee Volunteers are set to play their second conference game and their first road conference game of the season this weekend against Mississippi State. It's the last game before Tennessee gets its first bye week and while the Bulldogs might not be one of the best teams on Tennessee's schedule, this might be a bit of a trap game.

The Volunteers are just a 7.5-point favorite over Mississippi State, according to Fan Duel. They were 8.5-point favorites on Monday and started the week at 9.5-point favorites. In other words, the line has slowly begun to move in favor of the Bulldogs, so it seems like people are expecting a pretty close game.

On top of that, this is Tennessee's first road game of the season. They opened the season in Atlanta against Syracuse, but all of the other games have been at Neyland Stadium. Mississippi State may not have one of the more daunting environments in the country, but any road game in the SEC can present challenges.

Mississippi State has also been playing good football as of late. The beat Arizona State at home earlier in the season, who was ranked 12th in the country at the time, and have handled business against all of their other opponents like they should.

So there are some reasons to believe why this is a potential trap game for the Volunteers, but this is also a battle-tested unit as well. They beat Syracuse in week one, who recently beat Clemson on the road, and they went toe to toe with Georgia in an overtime loss. With a team that is fighting for a playoff spot this season, it's safe to assume the Volunteers will take care of business this weekend.

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