Tennessee
Titans opening odds: Tennessee opens as 3.5-point underdog
The Tennessee Titans opened as a 3.5-point underdog at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars at DraftKings Sportsbook. The line has since moved to Titans +5.5. The Jaguars win the AFC South with a win. If the Titans win, the winner of Saturday’s game between the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts will win the AFC South.
The health of both quarterbacks is something to watch here. Trevor Lawrence missed Jacksonville’s week 17 game against the Carolina Panthers with a shoulder injury. Will Levis left the Titans’ loss to the Texans with a foot injury. It sounds like Lawerence has a chance to play. It would probably be best for Levis if he didn’t.
It’s sad that the Titans aren’t in the mix to get in the playoffs here. We spent all offseason talking about how it would probably only take 10 wins to win the division. We were right. The Titans just won’t be in the mix there.titan
Tennessee basketball has made it to the Sweet 16 a dozen times, but only a fourth of those appearances ended with a victory sending the Vols to the next round. For years, this pivotal tournament round has felt like a barrier the Vols couldn’t clear − and, with more sour moments than sweet, some called it a Tennessee curse.
History looms large over Tennessee as the No. 6 seed Vols (24-11) prepare to face No. 2 Iowa State (29-7) at 10:10 p.m. March 27. Tennessee has earned March Madness berths 28 times, including for the 2026 tournament.
Tennessee’s only Elite Eight appearance prior to Rick Barnes becoming coach in 2015 came under Bruce Pearl in 2010. Barnes began to turn Tennessee around in the subsequent years, culminating with back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2024 and 2025.
Despite claiming the SEC Tournament title five times, Tennessee has never made it to the Final Four. The Vols are hopeful 2026 is the year that changes.
The March 27 game will be Tennessee’s fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance under Barnes. The Vols are 3-8 in this round of the tournament, which it reached for the first time in 1967:
- 1967: Dayton 53, Tennessee 52
- 1981: (1) Virginia 62, (4) Tennessee 48
- 2000: (8) North Carolina 74, (4) Tennessee 69
- 2007: (1) Ohio State 85, (5) Tennessee 84
- 2008: (3) Louisville 79, (2) Tennessee 60
- 2010: (6) Tennessee 76, (2) Ohio State 73
- 2014: (2) Michigan 73, (11) Tennessee 71
- 2019: (3) Purdue 99, (2) Tennessee 94 (OT)
- 2023: (9) Florida Atlantic 62, (4) Tennessee 55
- 2024: (2) Tennessee 82, (3) Creighton 75
- 2025: (2) Tennessee 78, (3) Kentucky 65
The historic first Sweet 16 win in 2010 ended with a 76-73 victory over Ohio State. The Vols trailed by three points heading into halftime before taking and sustaining the lead toward the end of the game.
Tennessee went on to lose by just one point in the Elite Eight versus Michigan State in the 2010 tournament.
“It’s going to stick with us,” guard Bobby Maze said at the time, according to Knox News archives. “Any time we watch college games or during tournament time, we’ll always come back to that very moment where we were just too short.”
From there, Tennessee would spend more than a decade searching for another Sweet 16 win.
It came in 2024 when the Vols beat Creighton 82-75 to advance to the Elite Eight. Dalton Knecht was the leading scorer for Tennessee, finishing the game with 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Once again, the Vols couldn’t advance to the Final Four, dropping their next game to tournament runner-up Purdue 72-66.
Tennessee returned to the Sweet 16 in 2025 and defeated Kentucky 78-65 to earn consecutive Elite Eight appearances. Zakai Zeigler ended the game with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Chaz Lanier wasn’t far behind with 17 points. The Vols again dropped the Elite Eight game to what ended up being the tournament’s runner-up, Houston, 69-50.
The Vols are 33-28 all time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 14-7 record under Barnes.
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The Boring Co. has started excavation work for the Music City Loop project
The Boring Co. has started excavation work at a state-owned parking lot on Rose Parks Boulevard for the Music City Loop project in Nashville.
East Tennessee will not get a tunnel from billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.
Musk’s tunneling company announced which three cities won a “free” one-mile underground tunnel in the “Tunnel Vision Challenge.” Three Tennessee cities were nominated and among the contest finalists: Gatlinburg, Knoxville and Hendersonville.
While no Tennessee town was chosen to get a Tesla Tunnel for transportation, Musk’s company said in a March 24 post on X, formerly Twitter, that it would “try” to burrow a utility tunnel in Hendersonville anyway.
“IN ADDITION, there were multiple other projects that TBC thought were so compelling that we are going to continue to work with the entrants and try to get them built,” The Boring Co. post said.
The announcement comes while Tennessee legislators fight to get more legal authority and clarity over underground transit construction.
Here’s what to know.
Which cities will get a ‘Tesla Tunnel’?
The Boring Co. announced that the “Tunnel Vision Challenge” winners are a NOLA Loop in New Orleans, a Ravens Loop in Baltimore and a University Hills Loop in Dallas.
Despite the contest, New Orleans, Baltimore and Dallas are not guaranteed a loop. Individuals could nominate their community without the consent or knowledge of local government officials, as happened in Knoxville.
The three identified communities will now undergo a diligence process to determine the feasibility of the project. This includes meetings with elected officials, geotechnical borings and utility and subsurface infra investigation, according to The Boring Co.
What is Elon Musk’s tunnel idea?
The Boring Co. is developing tunnels in cities across the United States as a way of mitigating traffic. The privately-owned tunnels are commercialized to allow anyone to ride the direct route in a Tesla for a fee.
“Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems,” reads a description on The Boring Co. website. “A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city; no matter how large a city grows, more levels of tunnels can be added.”
Musk’s company opened the first Loop in Las Vegas in 2021.
There are advantages to the underground tunnel network; however, there are limited government regulations to control the tunnel system since it is privately owned.
Tennessee representatives have proposed expanding government oversight of underground projects. Senate Bill 2205, dubbed The Subterranean Transportation Infrastructure Coordination Act, would create an 11-member authority board to take absolute control of all future state dealings with “subterranean transit projects,” including the Music City Loop and any future tunnels in the Volunteer State.
Not all tunnels are used for passenger transportation, however. Of existing tunnels, the Cybertunnel in Austin, Texas, was built at the Tesla Gigafactory to transport the new cars to a staging area. There are also several “research and development” tunnels across Texas and California.
The Boring Co. underground transportation system also could be used for utilities or pedestrians, as proposed among the 16 Tunnel Vision Challenge finalist cities.
What cities have Tesla tunnels?
In reality, a few cities currently have Boring Co. tunnels. Las Vegas undoubtedly has the largest tunnel used for underground transportation. Here’s which cities have Boring Co. tunnels for transportation or have them planned or in the works, according to the company website. Note that this list excludes research and development tunnels.
- Las Vegas: Opened in 2021
- Nashville: Under construction
- Austin, Texas: Open, used to transport new cybertrucks off the production line.
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Under contract
Allison Kiehl covers trending and breaking news from Knoxville for the Tennessee Connect Team. Email: allison.kiehl@knoxnews.com
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HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. — 2 young adults are facing charges for impaired driving and drag racing after a Tennessee State Trooper clocked them going more than 100 mph down I-24 Monday night, an affidavit says.
The affidavit says a THP trooper was on patrol traveling east on I-24 when a black two-door Infiniti and a silver BMW SUV passed him “at well over 100 MPH.”
The trooper attempted to stop both vehicles, but they continued down the roadway.
The affidavit says both vehicles eventually pulled to the right shoulder near Exit 181.
The trooper arrested both drivers, identified as 20-year-old Rolando Martinez and 19-year-old Lucas Turner, for drag racing and reckless driving.
While inventorying the silver BMW, the affidavit says a case of beer was found in the back seat, along with beers strewn throughout the vehicle.
The arrest report says the trooper smelled alcohol coming from both drivers.
Turner consented to standardized field sobriety tests and a blood test. The report says he was above the legal limit of .02.
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Martinez completed half of the HGN test and refused further sobriety testing, but consented to a blood test. The trooper also believed he was above the legal limit.
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