Tennessee at Arkansas Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks will go for their sixth straight win this Saturday when they host the Tennessee Volunteers. Arkansas improved to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in SEC play with a 44-28 win at home over Georgia this past weekend. Things haven’t been going as smoothly for the Volunteers. Tennessee snapped a four game losing streak with a 24-0 win over Middle Tennessee, but are still winless at 0-5 in conference play. This will be the first meeting between these two teams since Tennessee beat Arkansas 34-13 at home back in 2007.
Looking at the week 11 college football lines, oddsmakers currently have the Razorbacks favored by 14-points over the Volunteers with the total set at 54.5 points.
Tennessee:
While the win over Middle Tennessee will give the Volunteers a much needed confidence boost, this team has had a miserable time scoring without Tyler Bray at quarterback. Bray hasn’t played since injuring his thumb against Georgia, and Tennessee has managed to score just 16 points in their three SEC games without him.
Initially the Volunteers turned to senior Matt Simms, but have since turned to true freshman Justin Worley. Worley made his first start of his collegiate career against South Carolina, but was unable to do much of anything against a stout Gamecocks defense. Worley went just 10 of 26 for 105 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. The freshman showed marked improvement last week against Middle Tennessee, completing 23 of 32 for 291 yards and a touchdown, but it is going to be very difficult for him to play at that level against an SEC defense in his first ever road game.
With that kind of inexperience at quarterback, Tennessee has to establish some sort of ground game if they are going to keep this game close. Senior running back Tauran Poole scored two touchdowns in the win over Middle Tennessee, but finished with just 13 yards on 11 attempts. Arkansas has had their struggles against the run, allowing 176 yards per game, but just held Georgia to 79 yards on the ground.
Arkansas:
While LSU and Alabama garner most of the attention out of the SEC West, its about time people started paying more attention to this Razorbacks team. Their only loss all season came at Alabama. If they can take care of business against Tennessee and Mississippi State at home, they will go into LSU on November 25 with at least a shot to force a 3-way tie for first.
While the defense hasn’t been great at times, Arkansas has provided more than enough offense to get the job done. The Razorbacks come into this game averaging 37.7 ppg and most of the damage has come from junior quarterback Tyler Wilson and the 9th ranked passing attack (318.7 ypg) in the country. IN their latest win over South Carolina, Wilson threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Since being held to just 185 passing yards in a loss to Alabama, Wilson has thrown for 1,619 yards with 10 touchdowns to just one interception.
As bad as things have gone for Tennessee this season, they have continued to fight on the defensive side of the ball. The Volunteers biggest strength has been stopping opposing teams from throwing all over them. They are 17th in the country, allowing just 186.8 passing yards per game. If they can find a way to slow Wilson down and keep Arkansas from putting up a huge number offensively, this game could end up being a lot closer than what a lot of people expect.
Betting Trends:
Tennessee is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games as a road underdog of 10.5 or greater.
Arkansas is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games as a home favorite.
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