Texas A&M is set to take on the Tennessee Volunteers today at 2 PM CT, despite the FAA grounding order yesterday evening delaying the Vols’ arrival in College Station for a good six hours. Texas A&M has been a slight underdog all week to Tennessee, with UT opening as a 2.5-point favorite, but the line has narrowed even further this morning: the Aggies are now only a 1.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel.
There’s been a lot that has begun to conspire in favor of the Aggies in this matchup, if this team can actually take advantage of it. The latest would be the aforementioned travel delay that could be knocking the Vols off of their normal game for an earlier start today, but it’s not just that.
Tennessee star pass rusher Tyree Weathersby is set to miss this game against Texas A&M. As their sack leader, that’s no small omission from the game day roster, though there are still plenty of accomplished pass rushers on the field for the Vols. News broke early yesterday that Daune Morris, Tennessee’s no. 2 running back, will also miss the game against the Aggies today.
Final odds and predictions for Texas A&M’s huge home game vs. Tennessee
Then, you just have the plain fact of where this game falls for the Volunteers. Tennessee is coming off of a big, emotional, top-10 win over a rival in the Kentucky Wildcats, and they have LSU back at home next week— against an Aggie team that has failed to meet expectations this year, you could easily see this being a trap game situation for Josh Heupel’s team.
It’s not all happenstance that makes me like the Aggies in this one, though. Tennessee is a really solid defense in a lot of ways, but their biggest weakness is in the run game— when you really get down to it, the Vols have, essentially, a middle-of-the-road run defense, and the Aggies should be able to take advantage of that (if their OC schemes things up right, that is to say).
Then you have how Tennessee has performed on the road this year. One of their two losses took place away from Neyland, and they nearly dropped a game to lowly Arkansas in Fayetteville a few weeks back— they’re just not the same team when they’re not at home.
Make no mistake: this is no layup, not in the slightest. Tennessee is a top-10 team for a reason (though the committee keeps ranking them below Alabama, whom they beat earlier this year). Their defense has carried them through a lot of tough situations, and it’s good enough to stop this Aggie offense down quite a bit today.
But maybe because of the blackout, maybe because of the travel delay, maybe because of all of it— I’m still just feeling like the Aggies should emerge the winners of this one today. Give me Texas A&M winning on the back of a big day from David Olano, with a long touchdown from KJ Edwards to boot: Aggies take home the victory, 19-13.
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