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Tennessee football: Vols open a 3-point favorite over Georgia Tech

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 23, 2017; Knoxville, TN, USA; Head Coach Butch Jones watches during Tennessee Volunteers football practice at Anderson Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK
Mar 23, 2017; Knoxville, TN, USA; Head Coach Butch Jones watches during Tennessee Volunteers football practice at Anderson Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK /
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The first betting lines for Tennessee football’s 2017 opener are out. The Volunteers are favored by three points over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Just a day after the times were set for Tennessee football’s season opener against Georgia Tech, we got a glimpse into the early lines. And the Vols are a favorite over the Yellow Jackets.

The South Point college football lines for Week 1 listed Tennessee as a three-point favorite over the Yellow Jackets.

The game, scheduled for the night of Monday, Sept. 4, or Labor Day, at 8 p.m. on ESPN, is in Atlanta. So it would be understandable for the line to be so close. However, the Vols and Yellow Jackets are technically playing at a neutral field, and with so many Tennessee football fans in the area, it’s not crazy to think that the Vols will have more fans at the game.

As a result, this line suggest that there’s not a lot of faith in Tennessee football for the 2017 season.

After all, Paul Johnson’s team may have gone 9-4 last year, but it was in the weaker division of the ACC.

And the Yellow Jackets are two years removed from a 3-9 season.

However, Georgia Tech does return a lot of talent, and the Vols lost some key players from a 9-4 team. And the Vols have tons of new position coaches going up against a veteran team in Georgia Tech that executes the triple-option under a veteran staff. So all of this is reasonable.

But Tennessee is still likely to enter the season in the Top 25 while Georgia Tech isn’t. And considering this game is on a neutral field, you would expect the line to be greater in the Vols’ favor.

After needing overtime to win their season-opener last year, it’s clear that anything could happen. But entering the season with lower expectations may work in Tennessee football’s favor.

This game will give us a glimpse to that.

And according to the oddsmakers, it could be an exciting one.

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