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Nico Iamaleava Injury Scare, Tennessee Still Rolls Mississippi State in Knoxville | RTI: Press Pass | Rocky Top Insider

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Nico Iamaleava Injury Scare, Tennessee Still Rolls Mississippi State in Knoxville | RTI: Press Pass | Rocky Top Insider


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Tennessee

Titans Predicted to Make Surprising NFL Draft Decision

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Titans Predicted to Make Surprising NFL Draft Decision


The Tennessee Titans are just 2-7 on the season and are trending toward having one of the top picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, but what will they do in April?

The general consensus is that the Titans should select a quarterback, and there should be plenty of options available for them. This is slated to be a fairly deep quarterback class, so someone should be on the board for Tennessee.

After all, it doesn’t appear that Will Levis is the answer under center.

But is it possible that the Titans go in an entirely different direction?

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Joseph Acosta of SB Nation seems to think so, as he has Tennessee selecting Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Abdul Carter with the third overall pick of the draft.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this pick is a QB if the Titans continue to bottom out, but the Titans can’t bring the QB down,” Acosta wrote. “Carter is a terrifying blend of speed and burst, and he’s still growing into the position.”

It’s true that the Titans need a pass rusher, as they have logged just 18 sacks thus far in 2024. But is that really more of a pressing need than quarterback?

Levis is now in his second season at signal-caller for Tennessee, and things have not exactly gone according to plan for the former second-round pick.

He looked rather pedestrian in nine starts during his rookie campaign, and this season, he has totaled seven passing touchdowns and seven interceptions in six games.

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To be fair, Levis’ season has been marred by a shoulder injury, but it’s not like he was lighting it up before the injury, either.

Levis did look decent in his return this past weekend, but it just seems hard to fathom the Titans believing in him long term and passing up a golden opportunity to select a quarterback this spring.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!



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Tennessee vs. Montana: Game information, lineups, notes

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Tennessee vs. Montana: Game information, lineups, notes


Tennessee vs. Montana: Game information, lineups, notes

After passing its first road test, Tennessee will get to stay on its home floor for the next week.

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The No. 11 Vols (2-0), fresh off of a convincing 77-55 thumping of Louisville last Saturday, return to Food City Center for a two-game homestand against Montana and Austin Peay before going to Nassau, Bahamas to play in the Baha Mar Championship next week.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Tennessee hosts the Grizzlies (1-1) on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network+), looking to build off of a performance in which guards Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier totaled 19 points each and Jahami Mashack put on a stellar defensive display against the Cardinals.

Since their season opener a week ago, Lanier has looked as advertised for the Vols. The North Florida transfer, brought in to bolster the offense is averaging 18.5 points through two games.

Defensively, Tennessee held Louisville to just 26.7% shooting from the field and 25.6% from three-point range while recording eight steals, four blocks and 40-26 edge in rebounding.

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Montana lost to Oregon, 79-48 in its opener, allowing the Ducks to shoot 45% from the field. The Grizzlies beat Northwest Indian, 94-44 in their last outing.

Here is everything you need to know about the match up.

GAME INFORMATION 

Who: Montana (1-1) at No. 11 Tennessee (2-0)

When: Wednesday, Nov. 13 | 7 p.m. ET

Where: Food City Center | Knoxville

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TV: SEC Network+ (Andy Brock, play-by-play; Steve Hammer, analyst)

Radio: Vol Network (Bob Kesling, play-by-play; Bert Bertelkamp, analyst)

Series: First meeting

KenPom projection: Tennessee 82, Montana 60

PROJECTED LINEUPS

PREGAME NOTES

— Tennessee hasn’t trailed much in its first two games. The Vols have led for 78 of the 80 minutes they have played so far this season. Their only deficit so far was for a short stretch against Gardner-Webb in their season opener. Tennessee never trailed against Louisville.

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— Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes tied former coach Don DeVoe (1978-89) in all-time wins in program history with his 204th victory against Louisville on Saturday. Barnes, who is 204-101 in less than 10 seasons, would move into sole possession of second place with a win over Montana.

— Tennessee is looking to continue one dominating win streak on its home court on Wednesday against Montana. The Vols are 29-0 in non-conference games at Food City Center in the last five seasons and is tied with Providence and UConn for the eighth-longest active streak, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Three thoughts as Tennessee basketball gets into swing of season

Zakai Zeigler has moved up the Tennessee record books already this season. With two steals against Gardner-Webb, Zeigler moved into top five all-time in steals 186 in 105 games played. He trails former teammate Santiago Vescovi, who holds the record with 212, Vincent Yarbrough (211), C.J. Watson (198), and Chris Lofton (193).

Cade Phillips has been impressive off of the bench. The sophomore forward has turned in 41 minutes through two games after totaling just 78 minutes as a freshman last season. Phillips has scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 10 rebounds and one block.

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— Tennessee and Montana will play for the first time ever. The Grizzlies finished 24-12 last season and reached the second round of the College Basketball Invitational. They were picked to finish first in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll by league coaches. Senior guard Kai Johnson leads the team with 16.3 points per game.

Source: UT and Montana game notes



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CFP Committee Chair's Illogical Explanation For Why Two Teams Jumped Tennessee | Rocky Top Insider

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CFP Committee Chair's Illogical Explanation For Why Two Teams Jumped Tennessee | Rocky Top Insider


Tennessee Football. Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Cole Moore/Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee football landed at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. It is the exact same spot that they debuted in the rankings the week before. However, a pair of teams jumping the Vols in the rankings was very notable.

Both Indiana and BYU were ranked behind Tennessee a week ago but jumped the Vols to fill the two-spots right ahead of them after Georgia lost at Ole Miss and Miami lost against Georgia Tech last weekend.

“It really came down to the play last week of both Indiana and BYU, both winning big games on their schedule,” College Football Playoff Chair Warde Manuel said. “BYU, obviously undefeated, two wins against top-25 opponents, at SMU and against Kansas State. In looking at it, as we assessed all the teams, we just felt that Indiana and BYU earned the 5 and the 6 slot, and Tennessee stayed where they are.”

Manuel, who is the Michigan Athletic Director, explanation for BYU and Indiana jumping Tennessee is illogical. Indiana earned a 20-15 home win over Michigan (5-5) while BYU defeated Oklahoma State (4-5) 22-21 in Stillwater last week. Both the Wolverines and Cowboys landed in the preseason top 25 but have not been good teams this season. Not only were they not quality wins, but neither team was impressive in their victory.

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Tennessee undoubtedly beat a worst opponent in Mississippi State (2-8) last Saturday but the Vols did it much more convincingly, knocking off the Bulldogs 33-19 despite starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava missing the second half with an injury.

More From RTI: Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava Reprtedly In Concussion Protocol And Practiced Tuesday

Iamaleava exiting the game against Mississippi State and his status being uncertain for Saturday’s game at Georgia did not affect Tennessee’s ranking according to Manuel.

“I can say no to the injury to Tennessee’s quarterback. It had nothing to do with it,” Manuel said.

Both BYU and Indiana are undefeated at this point in the season and have cases to be ranked ahead of Tennessee. However, there was nothing that happened last weekend that would justify the two jumping the Vols in the rankings.

Tennessee’s offensive struggles were another reason mentioned for why the committee ranked Indiana and BYU over the Vols.

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“Tennessee, the offense has struggled some the second half of the season, not being consistent early in the year, and we just felt as a committee that at this time Indiana has been playing very well, a close win against Michigan, but other than that, they’ve dominated everyone they’ve played.”

Tennessee’s 33 points against a bad Mississippi State defense were the most they’ve scored in a single game since its September win over Kent State with.

The Vols do control their own destiny and  can all but lock up their spot in the College Football Playoffs by knocking off No. 12 Georgia (7-2, 5-2 SEC) on Saturday night in Athens. The Bulldogs are coming off a loss at Ole Miss and have to run the table to have any chance at making the 12-team playoff.

The Vols could land in the playoffs even with a loss against Georgia but that is far from a certainty with this week’s rankings and the logjam of potential SEC teams that could finish with a 10-2 record.

Indiana has by far the hardest game on its schedule remaining as the Hoosiers will face Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 23. The Hoosiers best win in their 10-2 start to the season is either its home win over Washington (5-5) or home win over Michigan (5-5). Indiana’s only win over a team with a winning record is Nebraska (5-4).

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Kickoff between Tennessee and Georgia is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ABC.



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