Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 7
- Will Notre Dame get clipped again with another Top 25 team in town?
- Tennessee may have its biggest test yet coming to Knoxville
- Washington has to prove itself against another Pac-12 elite
2. Tennessee Volunteers
Opponent: Texas A&M | Time: Saturday, Oct. 14, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS) | Spread: TENN -3.5
Texas A&M had an opportunity to pull off a major upset last week as the Aggies welcomed a flawed Alabama team to Kyle Field. The drop-off from injured Conner Weigman to Max Johnson at quarterback, however, was quite evident against the vaunted Crimston Tide defense and, just as importantly, Jimbo Fisher made numerous head-scratching decisions that cost his team in the 26-20 loss.
Now this team has to go on the road to an always tough environment in Neyland Stadium to face the No. 19-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. On some level, there is reason to believe that the Vols will be getting a team that might be beaten down after last week's result and will roll to a victory. That is very much in the realm of possibilities -- but so too is an upset.
Put simply, I remain unconvinced that Josh Heupel has anything close to the Tennessee team that we saw last year, particularly with the downgrade from Hendon Hooker to Joe Milton at quarterback. One of the big factors for the Vols this season has been that their offense is far more reliant on the run game, including the passing attack which has been opened up consistently by their rushing attack.
Against Texas A&M's defensive front, I don't see Tennessee having too much success moving the ball on the ground, which puts added pressure on Milton to deliver. I still can't trust him in the slightest, so that leads me to think that Johnson can utilize the high-caliber weapons around him against a still-shaky Volunteers defense to pull off the upset in Knoxville.