Tennessee football will look to keep Butch Jones employed with a win over Southern Miss. Here’s everything you need to know about the game.
Nobody is quite sure what Athletic Director John Curie is doing in Knoxville. For some reason unknown to Vols fans and the rest of the country, Butch Jones is still employed. Surely he wouldn’t make it past Florida? He did. There’s no way he could survive a blowout by Alabama. He did.
There were more losses along the way, but he’s reached his point of no return on Saturday. At this point a win of any kind over Southern Miss will surely extend his stay at Tennessee. If he didn’t get fired for losses he’s not going to be let go for a victory. A loss, however, might earn him his walking papers before church services are over in the south on Sunday.
Tennessee (3-5) hosts Southern Miss (5-3) in Week 10. The Golden Eagles are coming off a home loss to UAB in Week 9 while the Vols have dropped four straight since a 17-13 win over UMass.
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Here’s how you can watch Saturday’s Tennessee vs. Southern Miss game:
Date: Saturday, Nov. 4
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Venue: Neyland Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
Conference USA teams are not supposed to contend with a legendary SEC program like Tennessee. While that might be a battle cry by the southern proud it’s not going to give Vols fans much comfort on Saturday.
Southern Miss matches up extremely well against Tennessee. The Golden Eagles enter their Week 10 game against the Vols with the No. 36 scoring defense in the nation, allowing just 21.3 points per game. They’ll be facing the No. 116 scoring offense in the country, Tennessee, which averages 20.4 points per game.
Before they found the endzone twice against Kentucky last weekend the Vols had gone three straight games without an offensive touchdown. The recipe for Southern Miss really is that simple. Keep the Vols lacking offense at bay.
Tennessee’s formula isn’t complicated either. If the Vols can run the football they can stay in this game. The suspension of John Kelly against Kentucky was huge, but they still managed to tally a season high 55 carries for 203 yards. With Kelly back in the lineup they’ll have that extra punch.
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Prediction
Tennessee has more talent on their special teams unit that Southern Miss has on either side of the football. But it’s become apparent that talent is not the problem currently vexing the Vols. While common sense might lead one to pick the home team on Saturday experience has colored that decision.
The Golden Eagles pull it off on the road. Just enough offense proves to be enough against a Tennessee team that has run out of answers and given up whatever fight they have left.
Final Score: Southern Miss 22, Tennessee 20