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Tennessee opens as a big home favorite against Mississippi State

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey11/03/24GrantRamey
Tennessee Football | Neyland Stadium
Tennessee Football | Neyland Stadium

Tennessee is a 24.5-point favorite for Saturday’s game against Mississippi State at Neyland Stadium, according to The Action Network. The Vols and Bulldogs are scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN. 

Tennessee beat Kentucky 28-18 Saturday night in Knoxville and Mississippi State rallied from down 10-0 to beat UMass 45-20 in Starkville. 

The Vols (7-1, 4-1 SEC) got 141 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Dylan Sampson and Nico Iamaleava passed for 292 yards and a touchdown in the win over Kentucky (3-6, 1-6). 

Tennessee kicker Max Gilbert went 0-for-3 on field goal attempts as the offense continued to sputter in the first half, with the Vols trailing 10-7 at the break. 

“The things that we control, we got to be better in,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “We got tie it all together with special teams. Some things we did well tonight, some things we’ve got to be a lot better in. And offensively, the turnovers, you just you can’t have those. 

“… We just we got to be be better in some of those things. Practiced well the last couple of weeks. I do (think) we’re gaining. We just got to put the pieces of the puzzle all together.”

Against The Spread: Tennessee vs. Mississippi State

Tennessee is 5-3 against the spread this season but has covered just once over the last four games.

The Vols covered against Chattanooga (-39.5), NC State (-8.5), Kent State (-49), at Oklahoma (-5.5) and at home against Alabama (+3.5). They failed to cover at Arkansas (-14), against Florida (-14) and Kentucky (-17.5). 

Mississippi State is 5-4 against the spread so far, covering in four of its last five games.

State covered against UMass (-18.5), Texas A&M (+21), at Georgia (+33.5), at Texas (+37.5) and against Eastern Kentucky (-26.5). The Bulldogs failed to cover against Arizona Sate (+6), Toledo (10.5), Florida (+7) and Arkansas (+7.5). 

Closer Look: Mississippi State this season

Mississippi State is off to a 2-7 start under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby. The Bulldogs beat Eastern Kentucky 56-7 to start the season, but then lost seven straight before the 45-20 win over UMass.

Last week it was a 58-25 loss to Arkansas in Starkville. The other losses came against Texas A&M (34-24), at Georgia (41-31), at Texas (35-13), Florida (45-28), Toledo (41-17) and at Arizona State (30-23). 

Lebby was Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the last two seasons, after holding the same position at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021. He was at UCF with Josh Heupel in 2018 and 2019.

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