ESPN analyst who put Tennessee on upset alert against Furman forgot one big thing and it instantly makes his take look even worse
The Tennessee Volunteers will open the 2026 college football season on Saturday in Neyland Stadium against Furman.
The worst kind of takes in sports are the ones where an analyst feels the need to have a take just to have a take.
That was the case with ESPN’s Jordan Rodgers this week when the former Vanderbilt quarterback put the Tennessee Vols on upset alert against Furman ahead of the 2026 season opener at Neyland Stadium.
His reasoning isn’t completely crazy, but it’s flawed.
“I don’t think any of them are too likely, but if there was one where I could maybe sell you that this one could get interesting, it’d be Furman at Tennessee,” said Rodgers on SportsCenter.
“You look at Tennessee, they’re breaking in a new five-star quarterback,” continued Rodgers. “He is really talented, Faizon Brandon. But in these games where App State upsets a Michigan, it’s not usually that they are more talented – it’s that the better team beats themselves. And a five-star quarterback could go out there, as an 18-year-old, and make some mistakes. I think he’s going to be really good. But in Week 1? He’s probably not going to be the version that he will be in Week 11 or 12. … There’s a lot of question marks for Tennessee. 46.5 is a lot of points. I don’t know if it’ll happen, but if you want some intrigue and you want to say one in amillion, maybe that one.”
Rodgers isn’t accounting for how Tennessee plans to operate offensively in Week 1. The Vols are going to run the ball. A lot. With a true freshman quarterback in Faizon Brandon, the backbone of this offense will be the ground game. Brandon will air it out at times and make some plays, but Tennessee isn’t going to ask him to carry the load against Furman.
That’s mostly because the Vols don’t want to show much offensively before they travel to Georgia Tech for a Week 2 road matchup. Furman is going to get a heavy dose of running backs DeSean Bishop, Javin Gordon, and Daune Morris on Saturday. Tennessee’s experienced offensive line is going to have no problem pushing Furman’s smaller defensive line around.
And that’s not to discount Furman – I’m sure they’ll play with great effort, but there’s a massive talent gap here.
Tennessee isn’t looking past Furman, either
The idea that the Vols might overlook an inferior opponent doesn’t hold up either. Linebacker Edwin Spillman was asked this week whether Tennessee will be watching the Georgia Tech vs Colorado game on Thursday night, and he immediately shifted the attention to Furman. That’s where the team’s focus is.
“Nah, we’ll be focused on Furman and finishing Furman prep and finishing the week off strong,” said Spillman. “And then next week we’ll handle business with Georgia Tech.”
This isn’t a situation where Tennessee is looking past an opponent. The Vols know what’s in front of them, and they’ll handle it the way they should.
Rodgers didn’t even sound convinced in his own take. And there’s a reason for that: it was a bad take.
