Tennessee football opens as underdogs in three big SEC games

Tennessee football has completed spring practice and is preparing for summer camp ahead of the 2024 season. The Vols currently rank sixth in the SEC in most way-too-early rankings and power rankings, making them a fringe playoff team and a longshot for the SEC Championship.

That same sentiment has followed the Vols to Las Vegas as Draft Kings has released some odds for Tennessee's biggest games throughout the 2024 college football season, and the Vols are underdogs in three big SEC matchups. 

Draft Kings does have the Vols as favorites in its early-season non-conference matchup against North Carolina State. The Vols are 5.5-point favorites against the Wolfpack and open as 11-point favorites against Florida. 

Tennessee does not open as favorites in its other big games, though. Starting with Oklahoma, the Vols open as 5-point underdogs in the SEC opener. This is also a homecoming for Josh Heupel, who played at Oklahoma. The Sooners have improved yearly under Brent Venables and are expected to have another 10+ wins in 2024. 

The Vols open as 2-point underdogs against Alabama in Kalen DeBoer's first season as head coach. It will be a tough test for the Vols, but they will be in front of 100,000 at Neyland Stadium. This could be similar to Tennessee's win in 2022, with two high-scoring offenses battling it out under the lights. 

Tennessee opens as big underdogs against Georgia, posting a 17.5-point deficit against the Bulldogs. This is the largest deficit the Vols will face this season, and the Bulldogs are looking to win their third national championship in four years after being snubbed out of the College Football Playoff last season. 

Tennessee is an underdog in two of the three games. They will be on the road, making it more difficult to pull off the upset against some of the best teams in the SEC. Alabama and Florida are the only games Tennessee might have a slight advantage in, with those games being played in Neyland Stadium.