If Tennessee can beat Texas on Saturday in Neyland Stadium, the Vols will instantly become a legitimate College Football Playoff contender.

But that’s a big if.

Texas has one of the best (and most expensive) rosters in college football. The Longhorns’ depth chart is littered with future NFL draft picks. When Texas is firing on all cylinders, they can be nearly impossible to beat.

However, we haven’t seen Texas fire on all cylinders that often under Steve Sarkisian. The Longhorns have had some great performances, but they’ve had plenty that have left Texas fans shaking their heads, too.

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

ESPN’s Greg McElroy offered his prediction on Tuesday for the Texas vs Tennessee game.

And McElroy has Texas winning what he thinks will be a “terrific game.”

“If Texas can win on third-and-long without blitzing, then an 18-year-old (Faizon Brandon) has got to beat the number one team with his arm,” said McElroy. “Look, Tennessee has maybe the best unit on the field, and that’s the run game, so far. However, we don’t really know just yet. We don’t trust it just yet because of who it came against.

“Meanwhile, Texas, they have the more experienced quarterback. They have a more complete defense on all three levels, and they do have the only resume amongst the two that has a real win on it. So, if Texas can move the chains and [not] settle for field goals, that might not be the answer — they’ve got to score touchdowns in this game. Or maybe Tennessee can break a couple of long runs and this game could turn on one big mistake on either side. (Josh) Heupel is 1-11 in his career when his team scores fewer than 21 points, and 20 is exactly where I think Tennessee ends up. I’m taking the Texas Longhorns to win this game 24-20 in what should be a terrific game there in Knoxville, Tennessee.”

Every game is tough to predict but this one is especially tough to predict since it’s the SEC opener for both teams, and we haven’t seen the Vols play an elite team yet.

Ultimately, if this game is decided by a touchdown or less, it means that Tennessee’s football team is in a good place moving forward — though the Vols are obviously hoping to be on the right side of the scoreboard when the clock hits 0:00 on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium.