Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Welcome to the latest game prediction in the Im Calling It weekly series.
Georgia Tech just took a gut punch in their own building. The run game stalled. The night ended on a blocked kick. A coach like Brent Key does not spend the next ten days pretending that tape is fine. He spends it making the next opponent earn every yard.
That is the version I think shows up Saturday.They have the pieces to make this a fight. Two backs who are built to lean on you. A quarterback who can slide, reset his feet, and throw it on time when the first look is gone. A crowd that hasn’t lost hope and wants somebody to pay for last Thursday.
If those backs start winning early downs, the game gets slower. The Vols see less of the field. That is how an 0-1 team hangs around against a ranked visitor.
Hanging around is not the same as keeping up.
Tennessee’s opener already told you what the problem is for a defense that wants to sit in a phone booth. Brandon can get the ball out to the edges. Matthews can take the top off. You have to cover people who are faster than you want to admit. I do not think Tech can do that for four quarters.
The Vols should come out hot. That is who they are. Get a lead and force Tech to chase. Once you are chasing, the script Key wants starts leaking. Third and long. A young quarterback having to win it with his arm instead of his backs. He can make some of those throws. I do not think he can make all of them against this front.
Where the game stays honest is the clock. If it is within one score, Tech will try to bleed it. Long drives. Short throws. Kill the seconds so Tennessee never gets that extra possession that turns a lead into a laugher. That is smart. That is also why I will not pick a 20 point win.
I still think the Vols leave with it. They have too much speed on the outside and too much talent from Brandon already on tape. Tech can run it better than they did in week one. They can stay in the fight. They cannot match that pace for 60 minutes.
Tennessee gets in front, stays in front, and has enough talent that the fourth quarter never feels like the building is about to explode. A couple things that could make this sloppy is if Tennessee’s tackles lose the edge and Brandon spends the night running for his life. Also if Tennessee cant stuff the Georgia Tech run game on early downs. That would give Tech the slog they want. I do not see that lasting the whole game. Not with the talent on both sides for Tennessee.
So here is the call. Tennessee starts faster. Georgia Tech runs it well enough to keep the score from getting stupid. Mendoza does enough to stay in it. He does not do enough to take it. Key shortens the game when he can. It works for stretches. It does not work for the whole night.
DraftKings has the spread at -11.5 in the Vols favor as im writing this. Tennessee misses the cover by a half point.
Tennessee 31, Georgia Tech 20.
Not a runaway. Not an upset. A motivated home team that has enough to keep this from getting ugly, and a Vols team that has enough to take the one they are supposed to take.