Tennessee football vs. Ball State: Live stream, game time, TV and radio, betting preview
After a 7-6 campaign in 2021, Tennessee football is set to kick off its second season under head coach Josh Heupel. The Vols enter this year with much higher expectations, and much less drama surrounding them, than they did last year. Now it’s time to see how that translates to the field.
UT opens things up on a Thursday night against a MAC program for the second straight year. This time, they host the Ball State Cardinals, who are coming off a 6-7 season and back-to-back bowl appearances while entering Mike Neu’s seventh year.
Both of these teams lost their bowl games last year to close out the season. Ball State is two years removed from winning the MAC Championship, and these past two seasons are the first two times they reached the postseason under Neu. Here is all the information you need for Tennessee football’s season-opener.
0. 2246. Thursday, Sept. 1. 7 p.m. ET. Neyland Stadium. 0. 839. Knoxville, Tenn.
Broadcast information
- TV: SEC Network
- Live stream: WatchESPN
- Radio: Vol Network; Ball State Gainbridge Radio Network (WLBC 104.1 FM – Muncie, Ind.)
- Listen online: UTSports; The Varsity Network
- Satellite: Sirius (Ch. 138) | XM (Ch. 190 for Tennessee; Ch. 972 for Ball State)
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Gambling odds according to WynnBET
- Line: Tennessee -35
- Over/Under: 66.5
- Moneyline: N/A
Despite these past two seasons, Ball State enters this year with tons of questions surrounding them. That’s because they have to replace a lot of key talent. On offense, they lost quarterback Drew Plitt and their leader in all-purpose yards and touchdowns from scrimmage, Justin Hall.
The defense lost its interceptions and tackles leader in Jaylin Thomas and its sacks, tackles for a loss and solo tackles leader in Bryce Cosby. That would suggest this is somewhat of a rebuilding year for the program, but don’t bank on that just yet.
Ball State also has key talent back, including its leading receiver in Jayshon Jackson, its leading rusher in Carson Steele and leading edge rusher Tavion Woodard. Linebacker Clayton Coll and primary cornerback Amechi Uzodinma II are back.
Then there is added talent, including Vanderbilt Commodores transfer wide receiver Amir Abdur-Rahman and the return to health of linebacker Brandon Martim and cornerback Nic Jones. John Paddock will take over at quarterback with no indication as to what he’ll be like.
Simply put, Ball State lost a lot, but it has a lot of new talent combined with experience to still be effective. Meanwhile, it’s the opposite for Tennessee football, which returns a ton of talent including quarterback Hendon Hooker, leading receiver Cedric Tillman, leading rusher Jabari Small and four starting offensive linemen.
That’s just on offense. On Defense, the Vols return their leaders in tackles, solo tackles, tackles for a loss, sacks, interceptions and forced fumbles with Byron Young, Jeremy Banks, Jaylen McCollough and Omari Thomas. They have 15 starters back overall.
Such a level of experience is what has created so many expectations behind them, and with Ball State’s inexperience, it’s what leads to the possibility that they could win this game in a blowout. Last year, UT opened against the Bowling Green Falcons and won an ugly matchup 38-6. They want to put on more of a show this year.
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Each team has a crucial Week 2 matchup on Saturday, Sept. 10 once they finish this one. Ball State will host the Western Michigan Broncos in its MAC opener, and Tennessee football will visit the Pittsburgh Panthers in its first Power Five test.