Tennessee Volunteers at No. 16 Florida Gators (-9.5), Total 50.5 |
Both teams enter this heated SEC rivalry with perfect 2-0 records heading into the 41st meeting, as Florida holds a 21-19 edge in the series. The Gators have won the last six meetings, which has served as the Volunteers longest losing streak in the series.
Tennessee junior Zach Rogers is fully aware of the school’s struggles against Saturday’s opponent and is ready to take action. “I’m a little more aware of the losing streak than probably other guys are,” he stated earlier this week. “We’ve got a new team every year, so we’re going to be ready to play.”
The Volunteers will also be looking to snap a streak of 10 consecutive losses against ranked opponents on the road. The last such win came in a 51-33 victory at No. 10 Georgia on Oct. 7, 2006.
Things are certainly turning around in Knoxville under the direction of second-year head coach Derek Dooley, as the team will be putting its three-game winning streak in the SEC on the line. It hasn’t won four in a row since the 2007 campaign.
Tennessee captured one of the more impressive victories of Week 2 action, handing Cincinnati a 45-23 loss, which snapped a five-game losing streak to non-conference opponents from BCS leagues.
Quarterback Tyler Bray became only the second passer in school history to go over the 400-yard mark, throwing for 405 yards. He completed 34 of 41 passes in the contest and has led the team to a combined 87 points in the first two games.
Bettors will find that the Volunteers are 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 road games against teams with a winning record.
Florida is set to open its SEC schedule and the defense has been truly dominating under first-year head coach Will Muschamp. He directly led to five shutouts during his time as a defensive coordinator prior to arriving in Gainesville.
The Gators offense rolled up over 500 yards of offense and pitched its first shutout since 2006, coming away with a 39-0 victory over UAB at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last week. Defensively, the team held the Blazers to just 212 total yards.
Since 1990, Florida is 94-4 against unranked opponents in The Swamp and has won 24-consecutive against non-conference opponents in that span.
Both Dooley and Muschamp are familiar with each other, working alongside at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins.
Florida quarterbacks have a 67.9 percent completion percentage this year and have yet to be sacked. The offensive line is one of just five units not to allow a quarterback sack this season.
Converting in the red zone was a major focus during the offseason and has paid off, scoring on 11 of 12 opportunities.
college football betting players will find that the Gators are 1-4 ATS in their last five games as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points, while the ‘under’ is 5-2 in the last seven meetings between these two in Florida.
