No one ever wants to be overly dramatic, but the season is on the line for No. 16 Tennessee and head coach Josh Heupel this weekend against No. 8 Kentucky. If a loss is posted, the Vols will officially be kicked out of the College Football Playoff hunt, with another underwhelming bowl game on the way. Perhaps there's extra hope via the betting odds that the worst-case scenario won't arrive?
After opening as 5.5-point favorites, that spread has quickly changed according to the FanDuel Sportsbook. As things stand, that line now favors Tennessee by 6.5 points, which is wild to think about. Kentucky is a new team this year, but clearly the oddsmakers haven't forgotten about the last 10 years of their rivalry game, with the Vols going 8-2 during that stretch.
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Tennessee is now favored by 6.5 points in a must-win game against the Wildcats
It's pretty telling that the one-point jump has arrived, but no one in Knoxville is going to complain about that. Straight up, Tennessee has to treat this showdown as a do-or-die affair, because it truly is. With the initial College Football Playoff rankings coming on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the Vols are going to be on the outside looking in on the Top 12.
Had the loss to South Carolina not been posted, the storyline would be different, but this is the price Heupel and his players have to pay for now. Still, a win against Kentucky will help Tennessee climb in the rankings while keeping the CFP hopes alive.
In order for that to happen, both sides of the ball will need to shape up and keep the penalties/mental mistakes to an absolute minimum. No one has forgotten about the 12 penalties for 90 yards against the Gamecocks. Three touchdown passes wiped off for George MacIntyre because of laundry hitting the turf was infuriating.
The Vols almost got away with that against South Carolina, but there's no chance that Kentucky won't take serious advantage of sloppy play at Neyland Stadium. While Heupel isn't planning to name a starter leading up to kickoff, we're going to go ahead and assume that, barring a shocker, MacIntyre is going to make his third straight start.
If that ends up being the case, he's going to have to build off of the positives we saw against the stingy South Carolina defense. In that defeat, G-Mac tossed for only 136 yards, but again, the would-be touchdowns can't just be erased from everyone's memory. Having a healthy DeSean Bishop ready to rock, too, is going to be a major benefit for the young signal-caller.
With this being a 6:15 p.m. start time, the energy at Neyland is going to be downright electric, which should give Kenny Minchey some problems in trying to get the Kentucky offense going. If the Vols' defense can keep flying around as we've seen throughout the season, it could be a long evening for the Wildcats. And in turn, Tennessee will be in a strong spot to improve to 7-2.
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