Tennessee football: Vols, SEC, top 25 predictions for Week Two of 2019
Vanderbilt Commodores at Purdue Boilermakers
TV: Big Ten Network; Line: Purdue -7; Over/Under: 56
Saturday, Sept. 7 at 12 p.m. E.T.; Ross-Ade Stadium; West Lafayette, Ind.
Both the Vanderbilt Commodores and Purdue Boilermakers expected to take a major step forward this year. These are programs in similar states at this point, trying to find their place in major college football.
Sure, Vandy lost Kyle Shurmur, who owned Tennessee football. But they returned a ton of talent on offense and figured to have lots of guys who could make plays. This could still be the case for them. A 30-6 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs means nothing against Derek Mason’s team. After all, it’s Georgia. That team is loaded this year, so it wasn’t ever going to be close.
Purdue, though, may have reason for concern. Jeff Brohm was supposed to take his team to the next level his third year on the job, and a loss to the Nevada Wolf Pack to open the season is not where he wanted to be. The Boilermakers have been giving SEC East teams trouble the last few years, blowing out the Missouri Tigers in 2017 and nearly winning again in 2018.
Prediction
Brohm runs a team solely focused on high-powered offenses. Vandy, meanwhile, has a ton of weapons on offense and enough to offset Shurmur’s loss. Last week doesn’t count. Meanwhile, they lost everybody on defense. Considering those factors, this game should be loaded with points. So take the over. Also, take Vandy to cover. They have enough horses to hang with Purdue all day. In fact, we’re going with Mason’s team in the upset.