Tennessee Football: Vols-Bama Point Spread May be the Worst of the Year

Tennessee football is a 13-point underdog against the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday. The betting line agains Volunteers may be the worst of the 2016 season.

Back in 2001, Tennessee football traveled into The Swamp to face Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators. Both teams were 9-1, ranked in the Top 5, and playing to win the SEC East. Also, each of the previous three games between the two schools were within four points or less.

But for some reason, the Las Vegas oddsmakers had a brain lapse and set the worst line in football history. The Gators started out the week as 17 and a half point favorites. That line moved to 18 by Saturday.

Two Top 5 teams that are rivals are playing each other, and one team is an 18-point underdog. Of course, that was perfect motivation for the Vols. As a result, they shut up the oddsmakers with a 34-32 win that wasn’t even that close. It was one of the greatest wins in Tennessee football history.

Related Story: 5 Reasons Alabama is Not Mentally Ready to Face Tennessee

Fast-forward to 15 years later. The Vols are back in the Top 10. They’re now playing the No. 1 team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide. And this time, they are at home.

But once again, they are double-digit underdogs. Alabama is a 13-point favorite, to be exact.

Now let’s take everything into account.

Tennessee lost to Alabama by five last year on the road and is better by every metric this year. They are 5-1 with the No. 1 ranked strength of schedule in the country, and their only loss is a double-overtime one to the Texas A&M Aggies.

Oh, and they are healthier this week than they have been since the start of the season.

But somehow, Alabama is going to win this game by two touchdowns?

If you were ever going to bet on an easy line, this would be it. Put up massive amounts of money to take the Vols in the spread.

Now yes, we were wrong last week about Alabama and Arkansas and that spread. And oddsmakers are clearly putting their thumb on the scale based on that game, the USC game, and the Ole Miss win. However, Tennessee is a different team.

The Vols are far and away the best team they have faced this year. They should take this line as a blatant sign of disrespect.

Must Read: 10 Vols-Tide Games that Meant the Most to Both Teams

Vegas seems to be buying into the hype that Tennessee has been lucky. Well, this is Butch Jones and Tennessee’s chance to prove them wrong.

They screwed over the bettors in 2001 with that line. They have a chance to do that again.