Tennessee vs. Mississippi State line released

Tennessee sits at 1-4 through the first five games of the season. Another blowout loss over the weekend to the Georgia Bulldogs painted a picture of how far the Vols’ rebuild still has to go.

Luckily for them, they get another week at home — and an easier opponent coming to town. Next up for Tennessee will be Mississippi State, who sits at 3-2 on the year. The Bulldogs are coming off of an open date, but were blown out by Auburn in the week before.

Mississippi State came out of the gates with two easy wins over Louisiana and Southern Miss. After that, they were upset by Kansas State, but bounced back with a convincing win over Kentucky.

A bit of a rollercoaster season will continue on Saturday in Knoxville.

Tennessee will enter the week as a 6.5 point underdog against Mississippi State, according to The Action Network.

Even though Jeremy Pruitt wouldn’t commit to a starting quarterback after the Georgia loss, Tennessee will likely be looking to build off of Brian Maurer’s performance. The true freshman sent a jolt of energy through Jim Chaney’s offense in the first half, attacking down the field and throwing with confidence.

Maurer’s second start will come against the nation’s 77th ranked defense — a far cry from what he saw this weekend.

Will that be enough for the Vols to notch another one in the win column? According to the guys in Vegas, it should be a close one.