Tennessee at Florida Preview: Betting Odds, Tips and Predictions for the Week 3 Matchup

SEC play kicks off in Week 3 of the college football season and the standout game from this slate is the Tennessee Volunteers travelling to Gainesville to face the Florida Gators. History favours Florida’s chances here, as they have won five of the last six matchups between the two sides and you’d have to go back to 2003 for the last time Tennessee beat Florida at the Swamp. However, this Vols team is eyeing up a place in the College Football Playoff come the end of the season and is brimming with talent, while the Gators have struggled to impress so far in Billy Napier’s reign as head coach and were humbled by Utah in Week 1.

Tennessee heads into this matchup as 6.5 point favourites despite its poor record on the road against Florida in the past 20 years, and the over/under is set at 58.5 points. Last time these two teams met in Gainesville, Florida dominated proceedings, winning 38-14 and racking up 505 yards of total offence in the process. 

Graham Mertz has been steady under centre in their first two games and the offence certainly boasts some talent, but it is on defence that the issues lie. Joe Milton and this electric Tennesee offence should cause huge issues for the Gators’ secondary.

Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright are an exceptional running back duo for the Volunteers, accounting for 395 rushing yards between them in two games so far, while Joe Milton’s cannon arm and Ramel Keyton’s size and speed mean the Vols are always a threat downfield.

Tennessee at Florida Prediction

Florida has only covered the spread once in its last five games, while Tennessee has covered in 11 of its last 15 games. Against Utah in Week 1 Florida’s offence was stodgy and error-prone, and if they want to keep up with this Volunteer offence they will have to be massively improved. This could be a real statement win for Tennessee, showing why they are comfortably the best-placed team to challenge Georgia in the SEC East and we are backing them to exactly that. Graham Mertz isn’t good enough to challenge Tennessee, while Joe Milton and the Volunteer running backs are good enough to cause any defence issues. This will be the weekend the Vols are talked about as SEC Championship material, while talk of Billy Napier’s seat getting a lot hotter will increase.

Score Prediction

Tennessee 42 - Florida 17