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The Tennessee Volunteers have the luxury of staying home another week and will welcome the Pittsburgh Panthers at noon ET Sept. 11 at Neyland Stadium. After these two teams made easy work of their previous opponents, one of them is set up to suffer a discouraging change of fortune.
When you finish with 258 more yards than your opponent like the Volunteers did last week, a favorable outcome is almost sure to follow. They put the hurt on the Bowling Green Falcons with a sharp 38-6 victory. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point Tennessee had established a 28-6 advantage. RB Jabari Small was the offensive standout of the matchup for Tennessee, rushing for two TDs and 124 yards on 23 carries.
Meanwhile, Pitt was no stranger to outgunning their opponent yards-wise, either, with 612 yards compared to the Massachusetts Minutemen's 216 last week. Pitt claimed a resounding 51-7 win over UMass at home. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 23 to nothing. Pitt QB Kenny Pickett was slinging it as he passed for two TDs and 273 yards on 38 attempts in addition to picking up 39 yards on the ground.
The Panthers' defense was a presence as well, as it got past the Minutemen's offensive line to sack the quarterback five times for a total loss of 34 yards. Leading the way was LB John Petrishen and his two sacks. Those were the first sacks for Petrishen.
Their wins lifted both teams to an identical 1-0. Both the Volunteers and Pitt have easy wins in recent memory. We'll see which one's ego takes a hit when they face off.
