Indiana Football vs Tennessee: Game time, TV channel, odds, prediction, and more
Indiana football is looking to cap off one of the program’s best regular seasons in school history with a win against Tennessee.
It’s been a magical season for this Indiana football program. The job Tom Allen and company have done bringing Indiana Football to national relevance for the first time in years has been incredible. Now it’s time for the Hoosiers to put an exclamation point on what’s been the best season in recent memory for the program by beating Tennessee in the Gator Bowl.
Indiana is coming off a close win against Purdue, after losing its two previous games to Penn State and Michigan. Peyton Ramsey is still at the helm for the Hoosiers with Michael Penix sidelined until next season. Ramsey did a wonderful job filling in for Penix to close out the season. The veteran quarterback, in his ten appearances this season, has thrown for over 2,200 yards and accounted for 19 total touchdowns against just 4 interceptions. The Hoosiers will need him to step up against a Volunteer defense that gives up just 21 points per game, which ranks 29th nationally.
Tennessee comes into this game with a ton of momentum, albeit they haven’t played since November.
The Volunteers have won five straight games after looking dead in the water when they started 1-4 on the season. While their offense has picked it up a bit during their win streak (29 points per game over their last five games), their defense has been catalyst for turning their season around, allowing just 14.2 points per game during the win streak.
Tennessee averages 145 yards per game on the ground, which has accounted for over 40 percent of the Vols total offense. Led by a trio of backs, Ty Chandler, Eric Gray, and Tim Jordan, look for Tennessee to try to focus heavily on the run game, especially in the first half when leading receiver Jauan Jennings will be off the field serving a suspension.
Related Story. 3 Keys To Game vs Tennessee. light
Key Storylines
Indiana
Can the Hoosiers continue to create explosive plays and generate points against a vastly improved Tennessee defense? Between Whop Philyor, Nick Westbrook and Stevie Scott, Indiana has talent on the offensive side of the ball that Tennessee has not seen since much earlier in the season. If Peyton Ramsey continue his excellent play and limit turnovers, the Hoosiers should be in good shape. Will Stevie Scott be good to go? He remains questionable. Can the Indiana defense put pressure on Jarrett Guarantano and force him into mistakes? Indiana’s pass rush was non-existent at times to end the season. That can’t happen against Tennessee. They’ll need to get pressure on Guarantano and force them to be one dimensional with the run game.
Tennessee
Can the Volunteer offense keep pace with Indiana? Indiana can score in bunches, so if this game becomes a track race it could spell trouble for Tennessee which ranks just 98th nationally in scoring offense. Though they did pick it up to end the season, they’ll need their offensive line to win the battle up front to get the run game going and give Guarantano time to make plays. If Tennessee can establish itself with the run game, it could become a slow grinding style of football that Indiana would rather not play.
How To Watch: Game Time, T.V., Radio, More
Kickoff Time: 7:00 PM EST
Where: Jacksonville, FL
TV: ESPN
Radio: HoosiersTV, TuneIn,
Online Stream: WatchESPN.com
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Betting Odds: Spread, O/U
Opening Line: Indiana +3.5
Current Line: Indiana +2.5
Opening O/U: 53.0
Current O/U: 52.5
Courtesy of the Action Network