When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.
Tennessee
How to watch Indiana's exhibition opener at Tennessee
Indiana tips off exhibition play for the 2024-25 season this weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Hoosiers will travel to Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center at 3 p.m. ET to play Tennessee in a charity exhibition. The event will support the John McLendon Foundation.
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
The exhibition will be broadcast live on SEC Network +, available to any cable, satellite or streaming subscriber with a subscription to the SEC Network.
According to the SEC’s website, the following cable, satellite and streaming services carry the SEC Network: AT&T TV, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH Network, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Optimum, Sling TV, Spectrum TV, Suddenlink, Verizon Fios, Xfinity TV, YouTube TV and Vidgo.
If your cable, satellite, or streaming package includes the SEC Network, you can access SEC Network+ at no additional cost.
However, accessing SEC Network+ requires extra steps. The service is not a television channel and must be accessed via the web or the ESPN App.
If you prefer to watch Sunday’s broadcast via a web browser, here is the link: Indiana vs. Tennessee.
The ESPN app is required to watch via your smart TV or connected devices. It is available on all your favorite devices, including iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Kindle Fire, Android TV, PS4, Xbox and more.
More information on SEC Network+ is available here.
Indiana and Tennessee last met in 1985. The programs have played four times and the Hoosiers have won all four matchups. The last meeting came on March 27, 1985, in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York. Indiana won 74-67.
The Vols are ranked 12th in the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll and the preseason USA Today Sports coaches poll.
Indiana is ranked 17th in the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll and 18th in the preseason USA Today Sports coaches poll.
Filed to: Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee
Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal
Tennessee quarterback Jake Merklinger plans to enter the transfer portal, Knox News has confirmed.
On3.com and Rivals.com were the first to report Merklinger’s decision. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.
Merklinger has also opted out of the Music City Bowl. No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville. Starter Joey Aguilar will play in the bowl game, so Merklinger was not expected to be a factor. Freshman George MacIntyre will serve as the backup.
Merklinger spent two seasons at Tennessee but barely played and failed to win the starting job. He played six games and went 19-of-33 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2024, Merklinger was a third-string freshman when Nico Iamaleava started. In 2025, he competed for the starting job but lost to transfer Joey Aguilar.
By the end of the 2025 season, Merklinger was neck and neck with freshman George MacIntyre for the backup job. And it didn’t appear that Merklinger would factor in the starting job in 2026.
Merklinger, a native of Savannah, Georgia, was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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Tennessee
Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee
But this U of L task in Knoxville against tall favorite Tennessee sure seemed close to that heading in.
Well coached top level foe at its sold out home.
One whose strength — inside scoring and rebounding — made it a bad matchup for the Cards, whose lack of inside depth and strength has been an Achilles heel from the get go.
That the Vols were hungry and angry coming off three straight Ls made a U of L victory seem an almost impossible task.
Then we learned that back issue of Mikel Brown’s is a problem.
Cards were toast before tip.
It was all evident by halftime — actually well before then.
It just takes a peek at a couple statistics.
Tennessee led by only 7, thanks to some tough Cardinal D. And UT’s woeful FT shooting.
That inside game issue: Volunteers 28 points in the paint. Cardinals 10.
That’s right, Tennessee had more points in the paint at the break than Louisville had points total.
That lack of point guard issue: U of L had 9 FGs at intermission. Tennessee had that many assists on 15 buckets.
Louisville’s strength is depth. At least usually.
During the first 20 Tuesday, the Cards had zero points off the pine. Vols 22. (For the game, the disparity was 34-3. Khani Rooths hit a FT. Wild Man Zougris a garbage time slam.)
Another opening stanza reality that might have you feeling the need to clean your glasses.
Only three guys scored. Adrian Wooley with 12, Ryan Conwell with 11, and Sananda Fru with 4.
Louisville’s second half performance is not worth the bandwidth, my time to write about, nor your time to read.
The final, in a lopsided disappointing loss: 83-62.
There is no sugar frosting this. Against teams with major size and inside presence, Louisville has and will continue to struggle.
When your most talented player doesn’t suit up, it makes it more impossible to overcome.
Tennessee
A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee
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