Tennessee Football: 5 Things to watch for during ETSU game

The Tennessee Volunteers football team has an in-state matchup this week, as the ETSU Buccaneers head to Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

The Tennessee Volunteers football team will have their first home game of the season this Saturday when in-state foe, the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers, head to Rocky Top. The Volunteers are looking to get their first win of the season, as they lost their season opener last Saturday to West Virginia, 40-14.

The ETSU Bucs come into this game with a 1-0 record after they handled the Mars Hill Lions last Saturday, scoring 28 straight points to win 28-7.

Despite being an in-state foe, the Volunteers and the Bucs have never played each other on the football field. One big reason is that the Bucs canceled their football team from 2004-2014, but it is still strange that the two teams have yet to play each other despite being just over 100 miles apart.

The Volunteers would like to move the football on ETSU this Saturday. Despite allowing just 16 rushing yards, they allowed 249 passing yards last Saturday against the Lions. If the Volunteers want to run away with this game, they will need to have a balanced attack, moving the ball on the ground and through the air.

The Bucs don’t have playmakers like West Virginia did in Will Grier and David Sills V, but the Volunteers still don’t need to underestimate ETSU, especially defensively.

This will hopefully be a good game for the Volunteers, as they will be able to work out the kinks of last week’s game. This will likely be a game where the Volunteers are able to get quality reps for their second and third teams.

Last week, I wrote an article highlighting five things to look at during the Volunteers first game against West Virginia. We know more about the Tennessee football team now, but they still have some questions heading into their second game of the season. Here are five things to watch for during the Volunteers first home game of the season.