UTEP will boost Tennessee football’s offense and other SEC predictions

This story was updated because an early version contained an inaccuracy.

Tennessee Football’s troubled offense is getting healthy. And you don’t have to be an offensive savant to understand why.

The volume will share Neyland Stadium with one of the worst teams in college football on Saturday. But I’m not suggesting UTEP is more weakened than Kent State, which the Vols routed 71-0 in September as their offense hummed along at a record pace.

Kent State is now 0-11 with stats that prove it is the most balanced team in the country (last in the FBS in total offense and total defense). UTEP is 2-8 with both wins in the last four games.

Nevertheless, the Miners are incompetent enough to help revive UT’s offense, which produced 191 points in its first three games.

Tennessee fans are football savvy enough not to draw any conclusions from what happens Saturday. Their team’s offensive identity has been well established in seven SEC games, with the Vols averaging 23.4 points.

Putting it in perspective: Tennessee averaged 21.5 points in 10 SEC games in 2020 under coach Jeremy Pruitt, who was as well-versed in offense as he was vegetables (see his introduction to asparagus for details).

Since it’s too late in the season to expect an offensive transformation, Tennessee fans should be more concerned about what’s happening elsewhere. As convincing as Georgia beat the Vols last week, it didn’t knock them out of the College Football Playoff.

Tennessee could use some help this week from Ohio State vs. Indiana, Florida vs Miss OleMinnesota vs. Penn State, Army vs. Notre Dame and Auburn vs. Texas A&M.

Tennessee 48, UTEP 10: The Vols will return to the 40s for the first time since passing the 40-point mark early in the second quarter against Kent State.

Miss Ole 30, Florida 20: After Gators‘ upset win over LSU, it’s now possible to read “Billy Napier” without seeing “buyout” in the same sentence. It’s also time to shelve “hot seat” references for next season.

Arkansas 38, Louisiana Tech 16: The biggest upset of the SEC season hasn’t been Vanderbilt over Alabama. The biggest upset has been that both Napier and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman are still employed this late in the season.

Georgia 50, UMass 7: The Minutemen have already lost to two SEC teams, Missouri and Mississippi State, by a combined score of 90-23. It makes me wonder if the SEC Network has sold any subscriptions is Amherst, Massachusetts.

Texas 39, Kentucky 16: Coach Mark Stoops has gone from rebuilding to “deconstruction” at Kentucky.

Stoops went 2-10 in his first season with the Wildcats in 2013. Eleven years later, his team is on the verge of going 4-8, which would be Stoops’ second-worst record at Kentucky.

South Carolina 41, Wofford 10: After watching the Gamecocks narrowly beat Old Dominion in their season opener, I concluded they were the worst team in the SEC. Almost three months later, I’m convinced they could have made the College Football Playoff had they played Missouri’s conference schedule.

Missouri 37, Mississippi State 27: The Tigers are 3-1 in games decided by seven points or fewer. They likely won’t have a chance to improve on that record against the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State hasn’t gotten closer than 10 points in a winless SEC season.

Alabama 28, Oklahoma 13: The Sooners appear to be headed for a second losing season in three years under coach Brent Venables. But things could be worse.

From 1996 to 1998, Oklahoma went 12-22 under coach John Blake.

Texas A&M 20, Auburn 17: Wouldn’t it be like the Aggies to get upset when they were headed to play Texas in the regular season finale with a CFP berth on the line?

LSU 28, Vanderbilt 20: Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia is suing the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility. If LSU loses to Vanderbilt, its fans could sue coach Brian Kelly for fraud.

I’m not sure how it would play out in court, but Kelly has talked a lot about “championships” since leaving Notre Dame for LSU.

Record: 85-25 (.773), 57-38 (.600) against the spread.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He can be reached at 865-342-6284 or [email protected]. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on the Knoxville News Sentinel: UTEP will boost Tennessee football’s offense and other SEC predictions