Pittsburgh Panthers (1-0) vs. Tennessee Volunteers (1-0)
September 11, 2021 12:00 pm EDT
The Line: Tennessee Volunteers +1 / Pittsburgh Panthers -1; Over/Under: 53
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tennessee Volunteers meet the Pitt Panthers in week 2 college football action from Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Pitt Panthers will be out to build on their 51-7 rout of UMass last time out. Kenny Pickett threw for 272 yards and a touchdown on 27 of 37 passing while Rodney Hammond Jr. led the Panthers with 45 rushing yards while Pickett had 39 rushing yards Vincent Davis, A.J. Davis, Daniel Carter, Israel Abanikanda and Nick Patti each had a touchdown on the ground in the win. Lucas Kruff led the Panthers with 5 catches for 58 yards and a touchdown while Jared Wayne had a team-high 6 catches for 55 yards Jaylon Barden, Jaden Bradley and Jordan Addison each had 40+ receiving yards with Addison logging 5 catches and a touchdown. John Petrishen led the Panthers with 6 total tackles including a pair of sacks while Calijah Kancey, Phil Campbell III and Wendell Davis each had a sack for Pitt in the win as well.
The Tennessee Volunteers will look to build off of a 38-6 win over Bowling Green last time out. Joe Milton III threw for 140 yards and a touchdown on 11 of 23 passing while also rushing for 44 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. Tiyon Evans and Jabari Small each had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown as well in the win for the Vols to lead Tennessee in rushing on the day. Jalin Hyatt had a team-high 4 catches for 62 yards while Cedric Tillman had 48 receiving yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Theo Jackson had a team-high 11 total tackles with 6 solo tackles and 2.5 TFLs. Da’Jon Terry and Tyler Baron each had a sack as well in the victory for Tennessee.
Pitt is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Saturday road games while the over is 8-1 in their last 9 games overall. Tennessee is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall and 4-10-1 ATS in their last 15 games in September while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 home games.
This is hard to really break down as you have two teams in Pitt and Tennessee who blew out teams that were doormats last season in their respective openers, and both have solid QB play. With that said, I can’t help but feel like this line is telling us something. The Vols have a good QB in Joe Milton, but I have to see more from the Vols before backing them long-term. Kenny Pickett is Pitt football, heck, it’s more than half of his last name, and he just is a difference-maker for this Panther team. I also trust Pitt to be a bit more consistent on defense than I do Tennessee, so give me the Panthers on the road in this one.
