2020 Birmingham v Blackburn odds, line, spread: Tennessee vs. Indiana picks, optimal predictions from expert who's 14-5 The Hoosiers aim to tie a school record with their ninth victory when Indiana takes on the Tennessee Volunteers on Thursday in the 2020 Birmingham v Blackburn. The Hoosiers are 8-4, with all of their losses to Big Ten foes that were ranked at the time, and they have won five of their last seven. They closed the regular season with a 44-41 win at Purdue in two overtimes after losses to Penn State and Michigan. Indiana boasts plenty of talent at the skill positions, and the defense has been opportunistic. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. The Volunteers are up to 3.5-point favorites in the latest Tennessee vs. Indiana odds after the line opened at 1.5, while the over-under for total points scored is 54.5. Before considering your Indiana vs. Tennessee picks, see the 2020 Birmingham v Blackburn predictions from SportsLine expert Emory Hunt. Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007, and a former running back at Louisiana. He knows the game from both a playing and coaching perspective. The football analyst has been SportsLine's No. 1 college football expert this season. Hunt is 102-61 on college football against-the-spread picks, returning a whopping profit of $3,562 to his followers. Moreover, he has had a strong feel for both of these teams. Hunt is on a 6-2 run on picks involving Indiana and has gone 8-3 on Tennessee, a combined 14-5 record picking these teams against the spread. Anyone who has followed him has seen huge returns. Now, Hunt has locked in on Tennessee vs. Indiana from every angle and released another confident against-the-spread pick. Go to SportsLine to see it. Here are the college football lines and trends for Indiana vs. Tennessee: Hunt knows that the Vols, who are 6-5 against the spread this season versus FBS teams, are playing strong defense and making big plays on special teams. They have blocked three kicks, rank fifth in the nation in punt return average at 16.5 yards, and have returned three for scores. Marquez Callaway is the primary return man and has one TD, while fellow receiver Brandon Johnson and linebacker Daniel Bituli have the others. Bituli, whose score came on a deflected kick, leads the defense with 80 tackles and has three sacks for Tennessee, which is 4-2 against the spread following a victory this season. Callaway is fourth in the nation with a 21.2 yards-per-catch average, and fellow wideout Jauan Jennings has 942 yards and eight touchdowns. Why Indiana can cover The Vols might be on a roll, but that doesn't mean they will cover the Tennessee vs. Indiana spread in theBirmingham v Blackburn. Hunt is well aware that the Hoosiers are 5-4 against the spread in non-conference games under coach Tom Allen. The offense averages 443.6 yards per game, led by quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who completes 69.2 percent of his passes. Junior receiver Whop Philyor is the primary target and had 138 yards in the last game to give him 1,001 for the season, while tight end Peyton Hendershot has 46 catches for 555 yards. The Hoosiers' defense also can make a difference, scoring two touchdowns and recovering 10 fumbles. The unit averages 6.3 tackles for loss per game and has 26 sacks, led by end Allen Stallings with five and tackle Jerome Johnson with four. Thursday night's Birmingham v Blackburn matchup between Tennessee and Indiana features two of the bigger surprises from the 2019 season. The Vols struggled out of the gate, losing to Georgia State and BYU at home, but really turned things around in the back half of the year. The Hoosiers, meanwhile, were one of the biggest shockers out of the Big Ten, winning eight games for the first time since 1993. The Volunteers enter the game at 7-5 with a defense that has come of age over the last month-and-a-half of the season. Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano has emerged as a weapon under center after some hiccups during his junior season on Rocky Top. The Hoosiers have withstood an injury to quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. thanks to the play of dual-threat weapon Peyton Ramsey. This will also be just the second time these two schools have met on the football field with the last coming all the way back in 1988 with the Vols winning 27-22. Want to stay up to date on everything in the college football world? Subscribe to our Cover 3 College Football Podcast for in-depth news and analysis all year long. So who wins this showdown between SEC and Big Ten foes? Let's take a closer look at the matchup and storylines to follow before making some expert picks both straight up and against the spread. Tennessee: Guarantano was benched after erratic play and injuries nagged him during the first half of the season, but he has come back with a vengeance. He threw eight touchdowns during the five-game winning streak to close out the regular season, and has re-established himself as the unquestioned No. 1 atop the depth chart. A big reason for his success has been a wide receiving corps that has been money throughout the season. Veteran Jauan Jennings has 57 catches for 942 yards and eight touchdowns. He will miss the first half of the bowl game due to a suspension stemming from an incident in the season finale vs. Vanderbilt, which will allow senior Marquez Callaway and junior Josh Brown plenty of opportunities to step up early. The defense finally figured it out down the stretch. The Vols gave up just 280.8 yards per game and 4.35 yards per play in the months of November. Indiana: The Hoosiers won five of their last seven games to close out the regular season, which included a 44-41 win over rival Purdue in which Ramsey went off. The junior threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns while adding 42 yards and two scores on the ground. Wide receiver Whop Philyor has been the star outside with 69 catches for 1,001 yards and five touchdowns, and the rushing attack is in good hands with Stevie Scott III leading the charge. The defense hasn't been great, but when it matters -- especially on third downs (34.78%) -- the Hoosiers have gotten the job down. Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt was fighting for his job three months ago, and now he finds himself in a bowl in just his second year as a head coach. That speaks volumes toward his ability to keep his team motivated and his maturation as a head coach. That will continue on Saturday. There's nobody on Indiana's defense that can hang with Callaway and Jennings, so expect Tennessee to establish the run, work off play-action and run away late. Pick
Yorumlar
Yorum Gönder