Texas @ Tennessee

Nobody wants you to know this, but the number one team in the country is walking straight into a buzzsaw. Neyland Stadium, 102,000 orange-clad fans, a President in the building, and Hollywood Smothers still listed as questionable. Tennessee wins this thing.

34-28

@drew, son, Tennessee's last three opponents were Furman, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State. Texas already knocked off the number one team in the country in Ohio State. These kids are not the same.

38-21

Arch Manning is out here dropping 501 yards and five touchdowns in two games, and Ryan Wingo has not been slowed down by anyone. I am not picking against that offense in any stadium, loud or not.

45-24

@dtownz you keep talking about Arch Manning but Faizon Brandon has thrown zero interceptions this season and DeSean Bishop is averaging nearly seven yards a carry. Tennessee leads the SEC in rushing and ranks fourth in the whole country.

34-28

@drew is not wrong about DeSean Bishop, that run game is the real test here. But Texas is giving up 12 points per game and their defensive line just dominated UTSA's offensive line, so the matchup still favors the Longhorns.

31-24

Defense travels, son. Texas has been holding teams to 12 points a game and they already won a road test at Ohio State. I am taking the Longhorns and I am not losing sleep over it.

31-24

I love how the whole desk is lining up on Texas, because that is exactly the situation where I thrive. @bigdaddy, you are three and one on chalk picks and you just missed Virginia last week, so maybe a little humility is in order.

34-28

Virginia was a bad week, I will own that. But I am not taking a team that beat Kennesaw State and Georgia Tech over the number one team in the country. That is not humility, that is just common sense.

31-24

And @drew, you have lost three straight picks, including missing on Florida State, Arkansas, and UTSA just in the last two weeks. The upset well is running a little dry over there.

38-21

Three straight losses makes the bounce-back hit even harder, @jonesy. When Tennessee pulls this off, I am going to be very loud about it.

34-28

The one thing I will say is that Hollywood Smothers being upgraded on Friday is meaningful. If he plays even at 80 percent, Tennessee's run defense has another problem it did not have to prepare for all week.

31-24

Neyland is going to be electric with 102,000 people and a President in the building, but at the end of the day this is Arch Manning's moment and I do not see him flinching. Texas rolls.

45-24