Tennessee vs Appalachian State: Vols Favored by Over 20 Points Against Mountaineers

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The betting lines for the Tennessee vs Appalachian State football game have the Volunteers favored by more than 20 points over the Mountaineers.

The college football betting lines for Week One are out. And the season is underway. The Tennessee vs Appalachian State line opened with the Vols favored by 23.5 points, according to Vegas Insider.

In some cases, the line stretched to over 30 points.

But recently, it’s gotten down to 20.5 points. ESPN has listed the Vols as a 20.5 point favorite with an over/under of 59.5.

That means if the oddsmakers got it exactly right, the Vols would win either 40-19 or 40-20.

This line would seem accurate for a Top 10 team opening the season hosting a team from the Sun Belt Conference. But the Appalachian State Mountaineers are much tougher than people expect them to be.

Quarterback Taylor Lamb could keep them in the game with a high-powered offense in the first half. At the same time, an experienced defense with nine starters back could make things tough for the Vols early.

Oh, and the pre-game jitters of a Tennessee football team with major expectations this year could cause some early troubles in front of the bright lights at Neyland Stadium. The game being at night only adds to that.

This could be similar to the Bowling Green Falcons game of last year.

Only this time, it will be more defensive-oriented. Because of that, we would take the under in the Tennessee vs Appalachian State game just barely in points and in the Vols’ margin of victory.

However, they should still dispose of the Mountaineers relatively easily in the second half.