Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4 SEC) is coming off an impressive 79-60 road win vs. the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday night. Still, the turnaround is somewhat brutal, as the Aggies will return home to host the No. 6-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (17-5, 7-2 SEC), who have won six out of their last seven conference games.
On paper, outside of A&M’s early 70-66 road loss to Houston back in December, this is by far the program’s toughest game yet, but after consecutive SEC wins aided by veteran point guard Tyrece Radford’s 20-plus point performances, a stat that includes an 11-1 record when such feat is accomplished.
Averaging 80 PPG this season, transfer guard Dalton Knecht already looks like an NBA lottery pick, averaging 20.2 PPG (second in the SEC) while playing with a consistent toughness and confidence that has led the Volunteers to their highly respectable 7-2 SEC record.
While the Volunteers may be a better team on paper than last season, most of the roster, outside of Knecht’s addition, has stayed intact. Texas A&M’s game plan against the Volunteers will likely remain the same as it was vs. Florida and Missouri, but to keep pace offensively, both Taylor and Radford will likely need to score at least 20 points each. At the same time, the defensive/rebounding X factor in forward Andersson Garcia could decide the game in the final minutes.
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Garcia is coming off one of his best career games after recording 7 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, and two blocks against Missouri. Still, his scoring production and his elite zone defense will need to take a significant step on Saturday to help pull off the upset.
These are two tough and resilient programs eager to prove their worth game to game, but the Aggies’ earning what would be their 6th Quad 1 victory would further solidify a place in the NCAA Tournament.
The 6th-ranked Tennesse Volunteers will visit the Aggies in College Station on Saturday night. The game will air on ESPN at 7:00 p.m. CT.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.
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.
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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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College Football HQ picks …
More … Tennessee vs. Arkansas score prediction by expert football model
The Tennessee Titans are 1-3 in the first quarter of the season, and their lone win came in Week 4 on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins.
In the game, Will Levis started, but he threw his sixth interception of the young season on his first drive and was injured on his second drive with a bum shoulder. This led backup Mason Rudolph into the game, where he led the Titans to their first 30-point scoring game in over two years, and more importantly, a win.
Even though Levis crumbled and Rudolph had success, the Titans are going to turn back towards their original starting quarterback when he gets healthy again.
Bleacher Report writer Alex Ballentine says that Levis is lucky to still have the starting job.
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“Will Levis is fortunate to continue as the team’s starting quarterback when he routinely makes questionable decisions and Mason Rudolph led the team to its only win,” Ballentine writes.
It isn’t all a coincidence that the Titans starting performing well when Levis was sidelined. The Titans lead the NFL in turnovers so far this season with nine, and a majority of them have been coughed up as a result of Levis’ poor choices.
Levis is still a young quarterback with only 13 career starts over his first two seasons, so the Titans are being extremely patient with him, especially knowing what he can do with his arm strength.
However, it is going to get to a point where the Titans begin to prioritize winning over development, and unless Levis changes his tune in the next couple of weeks, Tennessee may look to move on to Rudolph to see if his management of the offense in the Dolphins game was a fluke or a sign that he should be the one under center moving forward.
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