Tennessee at LSU: SEC Football game preview, TV schedule

TV Schedule: ESPN

Game time: October 8, 2022, at 12:00 P.M

Location: Tiger Stadium

Tennessee faces its biggest test yet when they face off against Jayden Daniels and the LSU Tigers. Is the poor performance from last week’s win against Auburn a sign that the Volunteers will be too much for the Tigers?

Tennessee goes into this matchup with a record of 4-0. They are ranked 8th in the AP Poll. Their two most notable victories have been against Florida and Pitt. The Volunteers’ offense is electric.

The offense is led by Hendon Hooker. Hooker has dominated this year. He has thrown for 1,193 yards and 8 touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception in Tennessee’s first four games. He is slowly creeping into the Heisman race. He is moving up the gambling odds in recent weeks for the award.

The LSU Tigers are also led in this game by a very interesting QB. Jayden Daniels, a dual-threat QB who can run and evade would-be tacklers with his feet, can also throw the ball very decently. Despite an injury in last week’s game, it looks like Daniels will be on track to play this week. LSU goes into this matchup with a record of 4-1. They are ranked 25th in the AP Poll. Their only loss on the season came against Florida State.

The season opener against Florida State was an embarrassment to the program. Special teams’ issues along with missed opportunities from the Tigers led to the loss. While they have won every game since that loss, it seems like this team still has a little bit to work on before it can get back to SEC championship contention.

LSU has faced two non-tune-up games since that loss. In the first game, the Tigers needed a 21-point fourth quarter from Daniels and co to win the game. In the second game (which was last week), LSU went down 17-0 in the second quarter to Auburn before coming back to take the lead in the third quarter.

In what was a mess of the fourth quarter, one that included a bunch of turnovers by both teams, LSU came out with the victory.

If LSU wants to win this game, the offense will need to be there for all four quarters. In the two games they played actually worthy opponents, the offense seemed that it was shut down for multiple quarters of the game. This cannot happen against the Vols because their offense will be producing the entire game.

Additionally, LSU’s defense will need to get back to the way they played before last week’s game. Before the game against Auburn, LSU had a good defense, especially in the passing game. In the game against Auburn, Brian Kelly’s squad allowed 337 passing yards, which is not good.

Overall on the year, LSU has only allowed 214 passing yards per game. While that is not exactly world-beating, I will say that shows LSU has a good passing defense, as it is 44th in that stat.

Finally, LSU has only allowed 14 points per game, which is 8th in college football. Considering the Volunteers are scoring the second most points per game in college football (with 48 points per game), this might be an interesting battle and a way LSU can stay in the game with their inconsistent offense.

Prediction

Tennessee: 28  LSU: 17

I think that the Volunteers will win this game because the Volunteers will beat a somewhat good LSU defense. I do think that Auburn exposed LSU’s defense and made a defense that the college football world thought was good to change their minds.

I think LSU will need a big game from their offense and I don’t really trust their offense just because of their inconsistency, even if Daniels was completely healthy for this game. Look for Hendon Hooker to have a great game and raise his Heisman stock even more as the Vols will improve to 5-0.