The Tennessee Volunteers will host the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday. Here is the start time, the available live stream, and three things to know for this game.
The No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers (2-0) will host the MAC’s Ohio Bobcats (1-1) for a 12:00 PM ET kickoff at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, September 17th. The SEC Network will have the telecast and the available live stream can be found at WatchESPN.
Tennessee won the Battle at Bristol over the Virginia Tech Hokies last Saturday night, 45, 24. Ohio got its first win of 2016 by knocking off the Big 12 doormat Kansas Jayhawks, 37-21 in Lawrence.
The Volunteers have their eyes set on making a College Football Playoff run. The Bobcats have been a .500 or better team every year since 2009 under head coach Frank Solich. Here are three things to know before this Saturday afternoon game in Knoxville:
1.) Tennessee may have defeated Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway last Saturday night, but it might have had more to do with the Hokies routinely coughing up the football than anything. Virginia Tech lost five fumbles in this neutral site game. The Volunteers have shown they can capitalize other teams’ mistakes, but expecting five forced turnovers in back-to-back games is a tad ridiculous.
2.) Ohio isn’t a team Tennessee can beat in a cakewalk. The Bobcats have been to a bowl game six of the last seven years in the MAC. Solich used to coach his alma mater’s program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ohio should be the third straight bowl-caliber non-conference team the Bobcats will play to start the season.
3.) Tennessee has been solid at running the football with their triple-headed rushing attack of quarterback Joshua Dobbs and running backs Jalen Hurd Alvin Kamara. However, Dobbs has been awful through the air in the first two weeks. He only had 91 passing yards against Virginia Tech. Yes, Dobbs had three passing touchdowns last Saturday, but he’s not putting a Heisman worthy senior campaign through the air for the Volunteers in early September.
Date: Saturday, September 17th
Time: 12:00 PM ET
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Venue: Neyland Stadium
TV Info: SEC Network
Live Stream: WatchESPN
The Volunteers are a 27.5-point home favorite in this game, according to OddsShark.com. Tennessee should, in theory, cruise to 3-0 in this one, but haven’t put together a complete game of dominance the first two weeks.
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Will a convincing win over Ohio elevate Tennessee higher up the AP Top 25 Poll? Can the Bobcats beat a Power 5 team on the road in consecutive weeks? Tennessee should win easily, but that’s a pretty large point spread against a probable bowl team in Ohio.