Vols Open as Massive Favorite Against Akron

No.15 Tennessee will look to improve to 3-0 on Saturday night against Akron inside of Neyland Stadium. The Vols are coming off an overtime thrill against Pitt at Heinz Field, and if they hope to cover this weekend, they will have to get off to a fast start against the Zips. 

Tennessee opens as an overwhelming fifty-point favorite against the Zips. Akron is off to a shaky start in 2022, and is most recently coming off a 52-0 loss to Michigan State, so it is pretty easy to see why the Vols open up with this kind of margin. 

Since opening the line has move down but only slightly. Tennessee is now favored by 47.5 on DraftKings, 

Tennessee survived Pitt despite early offensive struggles against the Panthers, and Josh Heupel noted the Vols have to improve on this moving forward. 

“A lot of positives. I thought we were just a little bit off early in the football game," Heupel said on Saturday night. "Pitching and catching it. The way we attacked them early, didn’t felt like we could just line up and run the football right down the middle of the football field on them. I didn’t think we executed the pitch and catch early. Some of the blocking out on the perimeter, screens, as the game went on, thought we handled it better. We struggled with protections at time. We turned it over on third-and-short. We just never got going in the third quarter. We have to be better on the offensive side of the football to play all three phases during the second half.”

Akron should serve as another tune-up game for the Vols as a matchup with No.18 Florida looms on the horizon. 

Tennessee will return to the practice field on Monday in preparation for the Zips.