After a week back out of conference, Tennessee will return to the SEC grind this weekend. The Volunteers will make a trip down the Starkville to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It will be the first visit to Starkville for Tennessee since 2012, which was the Bulldogs’ last win in the series.
Tennessee holds a 30-16-1 advantage all time in the series.
The Volunteers got the better of Mississippi State last season in Knoxville, beating Jeff Lebby’s year-one squad 33-14. Lebby has the arrow pointing
up a bit to open this 2025 season, beating a ranked Arizona State team back in week two. A dramatic late game deep shot from Blake Shapen to Brenen Thompson did the trick for a massive win.
Mississippi State, now 4-0, also has wins over Alcorn State, Southern Miss and Northern Illinois. Hail State now stares down the barrel of its SEC slate, which includes Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas, Georgia, Missouri and Ole Miss. Ouch.
First things first, Lebby will host his old boss Josh Heupel in Starkville this weekend where the cowbells will be ringing. Lebby and Heupel were together to begin their coaching careers at Oklahoma, then reunited at UCF in 2018 and 2019. They’re now both running their own SEC programs.
Despite the road trip, the oddsmakers still believe in Tennessee. The Volunteers opened as 9.5 point favorites and currently sit at 8.5 point favorites, according to Fanduel Sportsbook. The total has been set at 62.5 points.
Tennessee bounced back from a heartbreaking loss to Georgia with an easy win over UAB. The offense is humming, armed with Joey Aguilar, Chris Brazzell and a three-headed trio of running backs that can get after you. The questions come on the defensive side of the ball, particularly in the secondary with a couple of key injuries. Tennessee tried to build out that depth on Saturday, but the Blazers were able to take advantage for a couple of late scores. That’s not a great sign heading into the thick of SEC play.
Tennessee is more than likely without top Rickey Gibson for the rest of the year, but could get Jermod McCoy back later in the year as he continues to work back from an ACL. For now though, it’s Colton Hood and Ty Redmond at cornerback with a whole lot of unknowns behind them.
Shapen and a much improved passing attack will certainly test them this weekend, making this one pretty interesting going into the weekend.
Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
