Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 3
- Could UNC find itself in trouble again?
- Two SEC teams caught in bad spots
- Ohio State could shock the world in the wrong way
2. Tennessee Volunteers
Opponent: at Florida | Time: Saturday, Sept. 16, 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN) | Spread: TENN -6.5
This ain't Hendon Hooker's Tennessee.
One of the biggest causes for trepidation about the Vols in the 2023 season, at least from me, was the transition from Hooker to Joe Milton. For all of the arm strength and tools that Milton has in the arsenal, what we haven't seen him do at any point in his college career is be an effective quarterback for the passing offense. And through two starts in Josh Heupel's offense, we still haven't.
Tennessee was middling against a pretty bad Virginia team in Week 1 and then looked awful flirting with disaster against FCS Austin Peay last week. Now they have to go to Gainesville for a rivalry matchup against Florida.
It's no secret that Billy Napier's team is extremely flawed. Graham Mertz is anything but special and the Gators have simply looked like a team that will be fighting for bowl eligibility and nothing more. But the defense still looks okay and there is some talent on this offense. Specifically, there is enough talent to challenge a still-suspect Vols defense that has yet to get truly tested this season.
When you then throw Milton into the equation, I can't trust the Tennessee offense either. And if that's the case on the road against an SEC rival in a hostile night-game environment, that's more than enough to put the Vols on upset alert in Week 3.