10 keys to the game

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel with offensive linemen Cooper Mays (63) and Dayne Davis (66) at morning football practice on campus on Friday, August 20, 2021.
Kns Ut Football Practice Bp

In Thursday night’s SEC game, there are two orange teams desperately forgetting what happened a year ago. Tennessee football, under the new head coach at Josh Heupel and in season 3-7, will host the Bowling Green Falcons, who will start the 0-5 campaign and start the third year under new head coach Scot Loeffler. .

This is the first match between the two schools since 2015 in Nashville, when Butch Jones-led Vols defeated Dino Babers-led BGSU team 59-30. This is the first Thursday night game for UT since 2016, when they defeated the Appalachian state mountaineers in overtime.

After the normal season, the excitement spreads through all Rocky Top users. While Tennessee football is expected to win this game easily, as we know, anything can happen at the opening. Let’s go ahead and break down what determines the course of this match. These are the 10 keys to Vols and BGSU.

10. Season outside rust

Both programs were played in the regular season a little later than last year due to COVID-changed schedules. However, neither of them played as late as they would have played if they had gone to the bowl game. UT was invited to the Liberty Bowl but had to leave because of the program’s COVID epidemic.

The extra game isn’t the only thing that can help smooth out the rust from the offseason at next year’s opening. There are also additional practices that allow teams to gel. Sure, both teams have a lot of new faces and UT has a new head coach, but these practices could have helped the returnees no matter who led them.

As a result, both teams are likely to be rusty after the break. Tennessee football was played recently like BGSU, but it probably doesn’t make a difference. If Volit becomes more rusty, this may be a closer game than it should be at the beginning.