Tennessee football vs. Ball State: Five last-minute predictions
1. Tennessee will win the rushing battle by over 200 yards.
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It won’t be Tennessee football’s passing attack that wins this game. They’ll dominate on the ground in a huge way. Although Ball State returns a ton of experience at linebacker, they are dramatically undersized at defensive tackle. That should allow the Vols, who return the entire interior of their offensive line, to dominate up front.
Jabari Small will take advantage of that and absolutely torch them for some big plays, even in the first quarter. Running the ball is how Josh Heupel gets his offense going, even in seasons when his quarterback looks like the star, and he’ll use Small again to do just that. There’s a chance Small has a career night Thursday.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ball State will generate no rushing attack. They have two power backs in Carson Steele and Will Jones, and there are enough questions about the Vols’ run defense this year with the departure of Matthew Butler to make this interesting. However, nothing is going to come out of any of that.
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Ball State replaces both guards, so they have major issues on the interior, and Tennessee football still returns Jeremy Banks and Omari Thomas. As a result, the Vols, especially when you add what Hendon Hooker does even with those sacks, will gain close to 250 yards on the ground in this one. The Cardinals won’t even gain 50.