I don't think this line is accurate. Florida is coming into the season with a ton of question marks and very little depth and established talent at the offensive skill positions. They are breaking in a new QB and a new offense where they will be using a lot of motion and communication will be of the utmost importance. Knoxville is a pretty hostile environment, so I could see a lot of confusion among the inexperienced UF starters, resulting in a lot of costly mistakes.
Furthermore, Will Muschamp has a lot to prove as a head coach. Last season his performance was lackluster at best and it was even worse for road games. At this point there is no reason to believe Muschamp will have his team prepared enough to win @ Tennessee. Tennessee +5 seems like a steal at this point. I could even see the Vols being favorites by the time they kick off.
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Thanks for the tip, Q !!
No problem, you're welcome PD!
I concur.
Certainly don't see this line going up and will settle between the 3's. Lizards might have slight edge on neutral, but I give big orange pts. in knoxville (maybe even 7 here).
So on a neutral field, taking an average cfb HF edge of +4; would put oddmaker's belief that gators are 9 pts. better on neutral (5+4=9), and would be a HF of 13 (5+4+4).
Math doesn't add up and knoxville still has pride and one of the toughest venues in sports to travel. UT loss of Poole will be big blow, but nuturing of QB Bray in his Junior year could excel (the year most QB's strut their stuff); with solid defensive and home crowd here; should be able to hold the line. As lizards are in QB transition, and new HC it is premature to expect road warrior prospects and given L2Y, gators have been lackluster on the O.
This more than likely will be a mexican standoff, with two staunch defensive units being somewhat conservative and could have difficulty moving the ball.
A FG game at best.
Early Muschamp ball licking by oddsmaker's? perhaps.......
I agree Quassie, keep 'em coming. I think you found a goodie here for all the early bettors out there......
razorback fan I concur.
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5 Dimes must be monitoring your thread. The line has moved to TN +3.5
RB, we will know more about UT after NCST game. Bray does have a top group of WR's and word is that Tyler is smoking it (no pun intended; but possibly could apply to the Calif. kid) Tenn had UF in a knot LY until #1 dep threat J. Hunter went down for the season with a knee in the first 1/4. Hunter and D. Rogers are considered 1st rounders. Can UT run the ball is the big ?. Also Vols are switching to,a 4-3 under new DC Sal Sansuri---formally @ Bama---among others. Lots of questions on both teams, but if the Vols smoke the 'Pack, you might wanta get you some of that + action as a HD. Considering the D questions on both sides, I would also look at the total ----Tenny should be able to chalk up the SB. So maybe sneak up on the over, since the vols will be making some mistakes on the D side. Tossup, to me, but some in UT camp think a Bray career day is coming. See me on 9-1.
Well, more than a month later and this line is going to be drastically different. The Vols will be favored for sure by kickoff. Even the Aggies (who were a 3.5 point underdog) are 2.5 point favorites against the Gators now.
I really don't know what Muschamp is doing over there in Gainesville. Last week there was an article mentioning how the Gators would rotate QB's each quarter to "confuse the defense," was he fking serious? Didn't seem to confuse anybody on Bowling Green's pathetic defense, and I can only imagine how disastrous this approach will end up on the road against a SEC defense.
As we expected, the Vols ended up being the favorites. I think the Vols easily cover the 2.5 points at home. Driskel, the QB for UF has looked beyond pathetic in two games. In those two games he has thrown for an appalling 276 yards and been sacked an astounding 9 times. Mike Gillislee, who has been the entire Gator offense to this point, is nursing a groin injury and will not be 100%.
Gator D is banged up too. Star LB Jelani Jenkins is out.
Anybody who watched Florida play last week, saw them get blasted with one hay-maker after another in the first half. It looked like they would lose by 4 or 5 touchdowns. They made a Redshirt Freshman, in his first career start look like a Heisman candidate, for most of the game. Granted, the Gators deserve props for making the second half adjustments and shutting out A&M in the second half, but they can't expect to duplicate that kind of effort against a very experienced Vols team.
Vols defense has been atrocious, but UF just isn't capable of launching an attack with Driskel at QB, on anybody, regardless of how bad they are defensively.
Prediction:
Florida 13
Tennessee 31