National media outlet united in prediction for Kentucky Wildcats vs Tennessee Vols

The Tennessee Vols are set to host the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in a huge SEC East showdown. A win for the Vols would set up a massive game with the Georgia Bulldogs next Saturday in Athens that would likely determine the winner of the SEC East. If Kentucky wins, it would make a College […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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Tennessee Vols

The Tennessee Vols are set to host the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in a huge SEC East showdown.

A win for the Vols would set up a massive game with the Georgia Bulldogs next Saturday in Athens that would likely determine the winner of the SEC East.

If Kentucky wins, it would make a College Football Playoff run extremely difficult for Tennessee. It would also keep the Wildcats in the mix in the SEC East (they'd need to beat Georgia and another team would also need to beat the Bulldogs).

Most folks, however, seem to agree that this is Tennessee's game to lose.

Tennessee Vols
Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright (20) runs the ball during a game between Tennessee and UT Martin in Neyland Stadium, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022.Utvsmartin1022 0288

In fact, 247Sports made their predictions this week for the game, and both writers — Chris Hummer and Brad Crawford — have the Vols winning by double digits.

Hummer has Tennessee winning 38-28, while Crawford sees the game as a blowout and has the Vols coming out on top 41-20.

From 247Sports:

Kentucky has trouble scoring and the Wildcats have had issues all season protecting quarterback Will Levis. That's more than enough for me to take the Volunteers to cover at home. Tennessee is wearing its black and orange alternates too and the game will be played under the lights in front of 100,000-plus. Sometimes, the easiest cover picks are not all that analytical.

Anything can happen on Saturday, of course. But this game isn't a great matchup for Kentucky.

The Wildcats are averaging 26.4 points per game. That's probably not going to cut it against Tennessee. The best way to beat the Vols is to get into a shootout and hope Tennessee makes some mistakes. Otherwise, the Vols are going to put up a massive amount of points and there isn't an offense in the country so far that can keep up with them.

Kentucky's offense will essentially need to be perfect to have a legitimate shot at winning. It's certainly possible that could happen, but the odds are most definitely in Tennessee's favor.

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

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