Vols look to start winning as important favorites

Welcome to the role of important favorite, Vols fans. The oddsmakers currently have Tennessee as an 8.5-point favorite over Kentucky, and Football Study Hall says that Kentucky's chance of beating Tennessee is only 12.9%. This preview, too, is going to pick the Vols and suggest that the final margin over victory should be closer to 14 than 7.

Perhaps all of that's an overreaction to the Vols seemingly finding answers to all of their last questions in the form of Josh Dobbs at quarterback. With Dobbs at the helm in the last game, the team put up 645 total yards (344 on the ground and 301 through the air) and 45 points (42 in regulation). Sure, that's against South Carolina's hapless defense, but they also put up 383 total yards (181 rushing and 202 passing) and 20 points against one of the nation's best defenses in Alabama. When your offense can score 14 points when they need them the most in just a couple of minutes of game time, well, you start to believe that they're going to score every time they get the ball.

On the other side of the coin, Kentucky may have gotten off to a great start this season, but that's all gone off the rails in the last four games against LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Georgia. They've lost those games by an average of 23.5 points, and they'll have played seven consecutive weeks before they roll into a Neyland Stadium filled with fresh hope Saturday evening.

So yeah, Tennessee's the favorite to win this game and should be. But this team and this program has been wearing the underdog suit for a long time, and winning as a favorite in important games is a different skill than beating cupcakes or rivals with a chip on your shoulder. Can Butch, his staff, and his players navigate the transition? Honestly, they still have so much to prove that it's hard to imagine them feeling the least bit entitled, but this is a game of inches and degrees, and I'm curious to see what impact, if any, standing ovations in class have on all of the little things that add up to the final result.

The Vols should be able to run the ball on these guys. The defense should be able to hold the Wildcats to a final tally of yards and points that leave room for the newly potent offense to outscore them. The stadium should be rocking with visions of a holiday bowl game and a 2015 in which the team can wipe the whiteboard clean and write on it whatever the heck they want this time.

Tennessee should win Saturday, but they have to make it so. So let's make it so. Go Vols.

					Comps				Result against Comps		Guess
					Closest Lower		Closest Higher		Closest Lower	Closest Higher
					Team		Team		Team	Team
	Rank	Value	Rank	Value	Rank	Value	Rank	Value
Tennessee rushing offense vs. Kentucky rushing defense	99	131.4	97	200.2	South Carolina		Ark. St.		South Carolina	Ark. St.	300
					112	223.4	64	162.3	344	168
Tennessee passing offense vs. Kentucky passing defense	61	235.7	19	190.3	Ark. St.		GA/AL		Ark. St.	GA/AL	240
					40	207.9	16/15	186/185.4	247	284/202
Tennessee rushing defense vs. Kentucky rushing offense	77	172	63	160.3	Utah St.		Ole Miss		Utah St.	Ole Miss	180
					76	154.8	53	174.4	100	180
Tennessee passing defense vs. Kentucky passing offense	32	203	54	243	Ark. St.		Oklahoma		Ark. St.	Oklahoma	250
					57	241.1	48	250.1	190	308
Tennessee scoring offense vs. Kentucky scoring defense	81	26.2	76	28.1	South Carolina		Oklahoma		South Carolina	Oklahoma	34
					104	34.1	48	24.7	42	10
Tennessee scoring defense vs. Kentucky scoring offense	51	25	67	29.4	Utah St.		Florida		Utah St.	Florida	20
					78	26.8	60	30.5	7	10