Tennessee opens as big favorite over Charlotte in week one

Giving us some sense of normalcy, Circa Sports has released several week one opening lines for the college football season. It’s totally fair to wonder if these games will happen as scheduled, but for now we’re going to act like they are.

The Tennessee Volunteers will kick off Jeremy Pruitt’s third season at home against Will Healy’s Charlotte 49ers. Pruitt is looking for a better week one than last season, which saw his Volunteers fall to Georgia State. Charlotte is a program on the rise under Healy, but the sportsbooks don’t give the 49ers much of a chance in this one.

Tennessee has opened as a 24 point favorite over Charlotte. See that and several other opening lines below.

Tennessee is coming off of an eight win season in 2019 after rebounding from that poor start. The Vols will once again navigate a difficult schedule, really kicking off with a trip to Oklahoma in week two. Tennessee has hovered as a touchdown underdog against the Sooners throughout the summer months.

For what it’s worth, there has been some chatter of eliminating non-conference games, which obviously brings this game and the Oklahoma matchup into question. Tennessee’s first SEC game is slated for September 26th in Knoxville against the Florida Gators.

Update: The Big Ten has since announced that they will only allow conference games this fall. So don’t be surprised if this game doesn’t actually happen.