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Tennessee football vs. UAB: 10 keys for Vols and Blazers

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the inside of Neyland Stadium during a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the inside of Neyland Stadium during a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
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Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

A Group of Five power, University of Alabama-Birmingham, visits Tennessee football Saturday. Here are the UT Volunteers’ and UAB Blazers’ keys to the game.

While Jeremy Pruitt was directing Tennessee football to a 41-21 victory over the 3-4 South Carolina Gamecocks last Saturday to get his team to 3-5, the 6-1 UAB Blazers, defending Conference-USA champions, were resting up on a bye week. Now they’re ready for the stretch run of the season in a quest to repeat.

The start of that stretch run is actually non-conference game, a visit to Neyland Stadium to face a Vols program that already has two home losses to Power Five teams this year. All of a sudden, this matchup looks quite intriguing.

After losing at home in the opener against the Georgia State Panthers, who are now 6-2, and then the next week against the BYU Cougars, who are only 3-4, Tennessee football will need to make sure it plays a complete game against UAB. One bit of good news for the Vols is that those losses will likely keep them from lacking a focus in this game.

However, there are still a lot of things they have to make sure they handle in order to win. UAB is almost completely healthy, and they are clearly a dangerous team. The Blazers can win this game by making sure they do just a few things the way they have been doing it all year.

As get set to break down all the factors that will determine the outcome of this game, note that there are questions as to how good the Vols and Blazers both are. Sure, UT has looked better in recent weeks, but they have yet to beat a team with a winning record. Although UAB would be that team at 6-1, their best win is against the UTSA Roadrunners.

Simply put, we really still don’t know much about either of these teams heading into November. So what does that mean for Saturday? How will each program go about winning this game? Let’s take a look at that here. These are the 10 keys to the game for the Vols and Blazers when Tennessee football hosts UAB on Saturday.

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