Urban Meyer calls Tennessee 'an enigma' ahead of telling game between Vols, Pitt
Former Florida and Ohio State head coach broke down this weekend’s upcoming matchup between Tennessee and Pittsburgh on a recent episode of Urban Meyer Urban’s Take with Tim May. Meyer talked about his experience with the Vols from his time with Florida, and how Tennessee’s new coaching staff has changed things for the program.
“Tennessee has been an enigma in the last decade. I mean there was a time in ’05 when I first went to Florida, with Phil Fulmer they had just won a National Championship a few years earlier. 100,000-seat stadium, intimidating fan base, and it kind of just disappeared for a while,” Meyer explained. “Those new coaches kind of brought them back, there’s energy.”
Both teams enter this game 1-0, taking care of business in their week 1 games. Meyer touched on Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi and his recent victory in their rivalry gamer versus West Virginia.
“This is gonna be a test because I think Narduzzi, the coach at Pitt we all have great respect for him for his days at Michigan State. They just won the backyard brawl in a street fight so you’re gonna find out about both teams, that’s the beautiful thing about playing these games,” Meyer said.
There certainly is an allure to college football’s early week matchups and the unknown of what a team will be until watching them play on Saturdays. Pitt surely had a strong showing in the backyard brawl, displaying toughness in a close back-and-forth battle led by quarterback Kedon Slovis‘ 308 yards in the air and running back Rodney Hammond‘s two touchdown day.
Meyer was not as impressed with Tennessee’s week 1 blowout victory against Ball State, where they dominated the Cardinals 59-10. Meyer elaborated on how games against lesser competition don’t give an accurate representation of what a team is.
“Some teams you don’t know a thing about because they haven’t played anybody, Alabama and Texas, who knows how good they are gonna be, we’re gonna find out here in a few days. But you have a good idea about Pitt right now, Pitt’s I think for real. Tennessee, no idea,” Meyer said.
We’ll surely find out if Tennessee is for real this weekend, as they enter the game ranked the No. 24 team in the country, with Pitt ranked No. 17. The Vols and Panthers kick off this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh in a primetime matchup streaming on ABC.