Tennessee football vs. Mississippi State: 10 keys for Vols and Bulldogs

10. Noon kickoff’s effects on the Vols a week after a night game

This may seem like a minor issue. But Tennessee football is coming off a night game against the Georgia Bulldogs last week, and now they have to refocus their body clock to get ready for a noon kickoff on Saturday. In a matchup that could go either way, is there a chance that the noon kickoff ends up being a factor?

For the record, it could be a factor against the Mississippi State Bulldogs as well. After all, they are the ones who have to travel, and that noon kickoff is actually an 11 a.m. kickoff for them since they are on Central Time. So it could work out in favor of the Vols. We just don’t know yet how it will all play out.

What’s clear is a noon kickoff could make both teams rusty. And it could also take away an early home crowd advantage for UT since fans will likely be taking their time to get into the stadium. So if you take everything into account, the kickoff time seems to slightly favor MSU, even if it is a morning kickoff for those players.

All noon kickoffs limit the skill a little bit early on, and this one’s likely to be no different. So the real team disadvantaged here is whichever one is less talented and whomever runs the more complicated schemes. We don’t know who that is, even if Mississippi State does have the better record to this point.