Things look hopeless for the Tennessee Titans early in the 2024 NFL season.

The Titans did beat the Miami Dolphins for their first win of the year this past Monday, but the Dolphins were missing Tua Tagovailoa and are one of the only teams that looks more hapless than Tennessee right now.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon lit into the Titans, essentially saying that there isn’t much to be excited about in Tennessee the rest of the way.

“It will become increasingly difficult to comment on this going-nowhere team and its collection of mediocre quarterbacks surrounded by a plethora of players that are either beyond their primes or never hit ’em,” Gagnon wrote.

Yeesh, that’s bad.

The Titans actually appeared to be a sleeper team heading into the season as a result of a rather decent-looking roster on paper. But the game isn’t played on paper.

Plus, Tennessee’s success in 2024 largely hinged on the performance of quarterback Will Levis, who has looked awful through the first several weeks and ended up getting injured after just four passes versus Miami. Mason Rudolph then led the Titans to victory.

Tennessee has a bye in Week 5, but Levis—who is dealing with an AC joint sprain—may be ready to go against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 6.

The question is, would the Titans be better off with Rudolph under center?

Even if they would, Rudolph doesn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence, which makes you wonder if Tennessee was better off losing out for the remainder of the season and then drafting a quarterback.

The Titans could very well end up selling off some pieces between now and the Nov. 5 NFL trade deadline. What they do during that period of time will tell us a lot about the direction of the team going forward.

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

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Week 7 of the high school football season is in the books. Full scores from Friday’s action across East Tennessee can be found below.

DIVISION I SCORES

Cocke County 32, Daniel Boone 7

Gatlinburg-Pittman 34, Unicoi County 13

Johnson County 29, Pigeon Forge 15

Alcoa 28, West 10

Anderson County 40, Clinton 7

Grace Christian 49, Austin-East 0

Northview Academy 31, Carter 27

Fulton 40, South-Doyle 16

Gibbs 59, Campbell County 0

Powell 38, Karns 0

Oak Ridge 42, Central 24

Cosby 49, Jellico 0

Eagleton Academy 62, North Greene 28

Cherokee 41, Grainger 0

Jefferson County 28, Morristown-West 17

Farragut 28, Bradley Central 20

Halls 41, Heritage 17

Oliver Springs 28, Midway 20

Coalfield 62, Oakdale 0

South Greene 18, Seymour 17

Tellico Plains, Harriman

William Blount 62, Union County 15

York Institute 28, Oneida 0

Loudon 35, Kingston 3

Hixson 54, Sequoyah 7

Chattanooga Central 62, Sweetwater 34

Stone Memorial 47, Livingston Academy 14

DIVISION II SCORES

MBA 24, Catholic 23

Chattanooga Christian 21, CAK 13

Silverdale Academy 49, Lakeway Christian 20

The King’s Academy 44, Ezell-Harding 0

Webb 27, Brainerd 0

Copyright 2024 WVLT. All rights reserved.

SEC football is back this weekend as No. 4 Tennessee hits the road a second-straight week in a matchup against Arkansas in college football’s Week 6 action on Saturday night. Let’s check in with our latest prediction for the game.

Arkansas is 12 combined points away from being undefeated, holding leads against Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, but ultimately losing those games as a result of ill-timed ball security issues and some offensive mistakes, resulting in a 3-2 mark.

Tennessee is angling for an SEC title and more, sitting at 4-0 behind the nation’s No. 1 ranked total defense, 1 of 2 teams to allow under 200 yards per game and under 800 yards total this season.

What can we make of the matchup?

Here’s what you should watch out for as Arkansas hosts Tennessee in this Week 6 college football game with our updated prediction.

1. Hogs on the ground. Utah transfer back Ja’Quinden Jackson has been key to the Razorbacks’ offense, running for more than 100 yards in his first 3 games, and he leads the SEC with 509 rushing yards and is second with 9 touchdowns. 

Tennessee is 2nd in FBS against the run, allowing just under 51 yards per game on the ground. And while Jackson is 1 of 3 SEC backs to average more than 100 yards per game, his output against conference teams is limited, averaging 56 yards despite playing against 2 of the league’s worst run defense teams.

2. Turnovers. Arkansas has suffered some very badly-timed turnovers this season, as quarterback Taylen Green threw a pick-six that allowed Oklahoma State to mount a comeback, and he threw another pick and then fumbled late in regulation last week. 

The Hogs are 89th in turnover margin and are second-worst in the SEC with 9 giveaways. The Vols have recovered 5 fumbles this season, and have forced 3 takeaways in their last three 3 games away from Rocky Top.

3. At the line. Stopping the run is Arkansas’ strength on defense thus far behind a decent front seven rotation, ranking 21st in FBS by allowing just 93 yards per game rushing.

Tennessee is 4th nationally with 290 rushing yards per game and lead back Dylan Sampson is averaging more than 112 yards himself and is 1 of 2 backs in the country with 10 rushing touchdowns.

Most analytical models favor the Volunteers against the Razorbacks in this matchup.

That includes the College Football Power Index, a computer prediction model that uses data points from both teams to simulate games 20,000 times to pick winners.

Tennessee is projected to win the game in the majority 82.1 percent of the computer’s most recent simulations.

That leaves Arkansas as the expected winner in the remaining 17.9 percent of sims.

Tennessee is projected to be 14 points better than Arkansas on the same field in both teams’ current composition, according to the model’s latest forecast.

More … Tennessee vs. Arkansas prediction: What the analytics say

Tennessee is a 13.5 point favorite against Arkansas, according to the lines at FanDuel Sportsbook.

FanDuel set the total at 56.5 points for the game.

And it listed the moneyline odds for Tennessee at -525 and for Arkansas at +400 to win outright.

A decent majority of bets are projecting the Vols will get the better of the Hogs.

About 58 percent of bettors are expecting that Tennessee will win the game and cover the spread.

The remaining 42 percent of wagers suggest that Arkansas will either win in an upset, or, more likely, will keep the game under two touchdowns.

There isn’t a phase in this game where Tennessee’s defense should be at any major disadvantage, especially when generating pressure from the nucleus of this unit, its elite front seven rotation.

And while Arkansas has struggled in pass protection during stretches this season, it is a relative strength when blocking for the run, resulting in the team’s strong rushing numbers to date.

The presence of mobile quarterback Taylen Green is a plus, as he can spice up the offense with a battery of scripted and unscripted runs to throw tacklers out of place, even if there are times when he forces a play that results in a turnover.

His scrambles and Jackson’s physical rushing style will find the Vols’ tacklers on the back foot often enough to keep it close, but the Razorbacks do have one marked weakness for UT to exploit.

Arkansas is third-worst in the SEC in pass defense, allowing just under 227 passing yards per game, and that’s despite playing against some substandard passing offenses so far.

Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee’s superb skill threats are another animal, and this feels like the game where Josh Heupel opens up the playbook a little more.

College Football HQ picks …

More … Tennessee vs. Arkansas score prediction by expert football model

When: Sat., Oct. 5
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET | 6:30 p.m. CT
TV: ABC network

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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