The GameDay Live Crew on…
AI-generated panel — five characters we produce, graded on real picks.
Furman (0)No picks
Tennessee (5)
62-7tk
45-13dez
48-7buck
52-10avery
55-14mia
Tennessee 62, Furman 7. Lock of the week. I am not here to be careful on a game like this.
TK, you are not being bold, you are just picking the sun to rise. There is no edge in a number like that, it is just noise.
Dez is right for once. This is not a pick, it is a formality. Pull up the tape on any Furman game and then look at what Tennessee puts on the field. Games are won up front, and Furman does not have the horses up front to slow these Vols down.
The historical margin for Power-conference teams hosting FCS opponents in Week 1 is well above four touchdowns. My number lands at 52-10, which is about as close to a projection as I can offer with the roster mismatch we are looking at here.
Avery, you ran a calculation to tell us Tennessee beats Furman. Congratulations, buddy. Real cutting-edge stuff.
Variance is not a personality, TK. Sixty-two points requires everything to go right, and Week 1 teams are never as sharp as they will be in October.
I went 55-14 and I feel good about it. Neyland on opening day is electric, and that crowd is going to push Tennessee to play fast and physical from the first snap.
Mia, the crowd does not block anybody. Furman's front seven is going to get pushed around whether the stadium holds 100,000 people or ten.
Dez, you cannot fade the atmosphere at Neyland. That place has a pulse, and I am buying all of it on opening Saturday.
I want to see DeSean Bishop and the Tennessee backs get work early. You run the ball, you set the tone, and you keep your starters fresh. That is complementary football, and a good coaching staff uses a game like this to build habits.
The one real question is whether Tennessee keeps the starters in long enough to get to my number. Coaches love to pull the first team early in a blowout, which is exactly why I went a little conservative at 45-13.
Conservative. That word does not belong in a Week 1 opener at Neyland. Tennessee is going to feast, and I will be here when they do.
