Back Tennessee In What Turns Out To Be A Home Game

Tennessee vs. Illinois, 5:30 ET

The Bowl Season has been with us for the better part of a few weeks now, and we are starting to get into some of the juicier matchups. I'm not saying every game is golden, or that we are assured of getting entertaining games, but at least on paper, they are teams you've probably watched on Saturday afternoons. Here we have a game between an SEC team that underperformed a bit, and a Big 10 team that maybe overperformed at least for a portion of their season as Tennessee takes on Illinois. 

Tennessee comes into today's game with a solid 8-4 record for the year, but it certainly was not as impressive of a year as they had hoped it would be. Their four losses were all to ranked teams, the only four games on their schedule against ranked opponents. Let's take a look at those games. In the first one, they hosted #6 Georgia and lost in overtime. They ended up losing 44-41, so clearly their offense wasn't an issue, they just couldn't get the stop when they needed it. Then they went to Alabama in the middle of October and lost that game by 17, which isn't a great result, but at least they were decent in it. Their last two losses were both home games, one against Oklahoma and the other against Vanderbilt. In the Oklahoma game, they fell by just one score, but in the Vanderbilt game they were blown out, losing by 21. They showed some success overall on offense, and obviously had some spurts of defense where they looked vulnerable. Joey Aguilar had a nice season, but he did throw half of his interceptions in three of the four losses. 

(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

Illinois looked like they might have a great season when it first started, but it went downhill quickly after the initial success. After starting the season 3-0, they were absolutely demolished by Indiana in Bloomington. They were embarrassed in every sense of the word as the Hoosiers beat the Illini 63-10. It was a nice rebound the following week as they took down USC, but it wasn't enough to be excited about as they had Ohio State looming shortly after. They once again were defeated with ease as they lost 34-16 to the Buckeyes. The other two losses came on the road as Washington beat them with no trouble and they got nothing going against Wisconsin. There were only two road games that the Illini won this year as they beat Duke and Purdue. Neither team was terrible, but neither was all that special either. 

This game does have a few people sitting out or at least entering the transfer portal. The Volunteers will be without their best receiver, leading tackler, and two of their better defensive backs. This bodes well for the Illinois offense. It is an opportunity for William Inge to prove he is worth looking at for defensive coordinator because the Volunteers fired their coordinator earlier in the year. Illinois is missing a couple of guys, but fewer than Tennessee, and probably without as much of an impact as the Volunteers. The biggest problem for the Illini is that this is a home game for the Volunteers. It is being played in Nashville. It isn't like Illinois is that far away, but this should be a very pro-Volunteer crowd. The biggest question is how good can Aguilar be without his best receiver. Then you have to ask if the defense can stop Illinois offense. The line has moved significantly toward Illinois, and I agree with it, but I think now is the time to take Tennessee to cover just a -2.5. I'd be fine taking them on the moneyline at -135 instead, as well. 

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