Tennessee opened the season with a convincing 56-9 win over Furman. The Vols will travel to Georgia Tech in Week 2 for a big game against the Yellow Jackets.

It’ll be the first matchup between the two teams since 2017 when the Vols won in double overtime.

This Tennessee game against Georgia Tech gets forgotten about, but it had a wild ending in double overtime pic.twitter.com/ti0R8WdSXW

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) January 24, 2023

Georgia Tech lost 14-13 last week in its season opener against Colorado.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy predicts the final score of Georgia Tech vs Tennessee

ESPN’s Greg McElroy previewed some of Week 2’s biggest college football games, including Tennessee vs Georgia Tech.

McElroy shared several keys to the game before making a final score prediction.

“Josh Heupel is 55-2 when Tennessee rushes for 200-plus yards,” said McElroy. “That’s at Tennessee and UCF. … Well, they just ran for 329 (against Furman). So both coaches need the same thing (to run the ball well). Only one of them (Heupel) so far this season has shown that they can produce that. And then, how many times does (Georgia Tech QB) Alberto Mendoza throw it? Because (Brent) Key is 2-9 when his quarterback has to throw it 35 times or more. Now, he threw it 23 times against Colorado, and that’s the script they want — 20 to 25 throws. They lost anyway because 30 carries produced 51 rushing yards. Tennessee’s path is to stop the run and make the freshman throw it.

“Then is Tennessee’s defense actually fixed? They had 12 tackles for loss and six sacks against Furman. It’s a promising data point for Jim Knowles in his first game, but it’s not necessarily evidence of them completely turning the corner because this was a group last year that was 109th in efficiency. … Another question: What happens on first down? Both coaches are going to live or die here. Because if Tennessee is picking up five or six yards on first down, and Georgia Tech spends the night in third and long because they can’t run the ball, it could get away from (Georgia Tech) early. But if Georgia Tech’s front holds up and Faizon Brandon is seeing third and seven-plus every time they’re in a third down situation, well, the operation will become the story at that point.”

“I’m taking Tennessee to win this game 31-20,” continued McElroy. “I do think Georgia Tech is going to play better, I just don’t think they’re going to play well enough to get the job done — because they got beat on both lines of scrimmage (in Week 1 against Colorado). I don’t think those things get fixed overnight. To average less than two yards a carry and to give up 184 rushing yards on the ground, that’s a problem — especially when you’re going against a group that just ran for 329 yards and generated 12 tackles for loss. But I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout because it’s a freshman’s (Brandon) first road start at night.”

McElroy isn’t the most popular guy among Vols fans — he’s a former Alabama quarterback, after all — but he’s objectively one of the better analysts in the game. He shies away from hot takes and simply breaks down the competition on the field. That’s why it’s no surprise that he’s one of the more accurate analysts, even if his takes aren’t always popular with Tennessee fans.