Tennessee football: Game-by-game predictions for Vols 2019 season
Game Six
Mississippi State Bulldogs at Tennessee Volunteers
Saturday, Oct. 12; Neyland Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.
Coming off the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs, Tennessee football will likely be looking for a major rebound against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. But whether or not it happens is a completely different story altogether.
The Vols will be facing a team led by second-year head coach Joe Moorhead, who is known as an offensive genius and will have his system fully installed but also has to replace a ton of talent. So the question about MSU is whether or not the youth will hold him back or the extra experience in the system will push him forward coming off an 8-5 campaign in 2018.
UT is a great test for Moorhead’s program. The same is true vice versa as well. So, this is somewhat of a bellwether game for both teams. There’s a chance MSU shows lots of talent but is unable to deal with success.
So this game could come down to whether or not the Bulldogs are coming off a successful run or not. Again, this season for these young teams is going to be all about momentum, and we have no idea where Moorhead’s team will stand with that.
Prediction
Jeremy Pruitt’s team should have the advantage against Mississippi State. However, the Bulldogs will be coming off a bye week, so whether or not they can handle success is going to be irrelevant. They’ll have their focus and excitement solely on the Vols, and Moorhead’s creativity will lead to a close win for the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State: 28 Tennessee 27