Oklahoma vs. Tennessee: Ticket Info, Date, TV Schedule and Live Stream
On-the-rise programs collide in one of Saturday's top showdowns when the No. 19 Oklahoma Sooners hit the road for an encounter with the No. 23 Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville.
Both programs got off on the right foot with Week 1 victories, although both came away with obvious areas of improvement to focus on if they are to contend in their respective conferences.
For Oklahoma, a 41-3 thumping of Akron looks good, but coach Bob Stoops remains adamant there are issues to correct. It's much of the same for Tennessee coach Butch Jones after a 59-30 victory against Bowling Green.
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In what figures to be one of the week's most physical and entertaining encounters, there is much at stake. Here's everything to know about the collision.
Correcting the Little Things
What Oklahoma's rout of Akron doesn't say outright is just how much the Sooners struggled out of the gates.
Over Oklahoma's first six drives, the offense managed just a single field goal against a sluggish Zips defense out of the MAC. Things improved when the flags stopped, and Baker Mayfield wound up throwing for 388 yards and three scores.
Oklahoma did most of its damage in the second and third frames. Stoops wants the performances there to stretch for the course of all four, per ESPN.com: "For a period of time, we executed really well and avoided penalties that hurt us and operated like we feel we can."
It wasn't just the passing game, though. Starting back Samaje Perine managed just 33 yards and a score on 11 totes, while the team as a whole rushed for just 100 yards and 3.0 yards per carry.
The potential of Oklahoma's offense seems obvious. The trick now is taking lessons learned a week ago into hostile territory and escaping with a win.
Preventing An Air-Raid
The story around the Volunteers happens to be the exact opposite.
Tennessee's final score against Bowling Green doesn't hide anything. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs threw for 205 yards and a pair of scores, and, well, the ground game didn't have any issues:
| Alvin Kamara | 15 | 144 | 9.6 | 2 |
| Jalen Hurd | 23 | 123 | 5.3 | 3 |
| Joshua Dobbs | 12 | 89 | 7.4 | 1 |
The problems for the Volunteers came on defense, especially in the secondary. Falcons quarterback Matt Johnson threw for an eye-popping 424 yards and two scores, while wideout Gehrig Dieter ran wild with seven catches for 133 yards and a score. Five Bowling Green receivers averaged at least 15 yards per catch.
"We had too many mental errors and to play winning football you can't have the amount of mental errors that we had," Jones said, per ESPN.com. "Again, first game, going fast, a lot of things happening, but that's inexcusable."
If the Tennessee defense is to stop Mayfield and Co. from taking the proverbial next step at its expense in front of a home crowd, the unit needs to better prevent big plays.
Of course, this is easier said than done, especially under the bright lights of a highly anticipated matchup.
Viewing Info
When: Saturday, September 12, 6 p.m. ET
Where: Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Television: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 64
- Spread: Oklahoma (-1)
Team Injury Reports
No listed injuries for Oklahoma.
| Andrew Butcher | DL | Ques. Sat. |
| Vincent Perry | WR | Out for season |
| Jason Croom | WR | Out indefinitely |
| LaDarrell McNeil | DB | Doub. Sat. |
| Pig Howard | WR | Elig. Sat. |
| Marquez North | WR | Prob. Sat. |
| Austin Sanders | OL | Out for season |
| Rashaan Gaulden | DB | Out for season |
| Marcus Jackson | OL | Out for season |
Prediction
There's a reason Las Vegas won't commit to one side or the other here—it could go one of two ways as easy as a flip of the coin.
Tennessee could grind up Oklahoma on the ground, or Oklahoma could run roughshod on the shaky Tennessee secondary with big play after big play.
Bank on the former. This affair goes down at Neyland Stadium, and the noise level is sure to have an effect on the Sooners' passing game, which should help the secondary, a unit with a week of mistakes to digest and improve upon.
On the ground, Alvin Kamara and Co. should be able to control the pace of the game and keep the Oklahoma offense off the field anyway, so look for the Volunteers to pull out a close one.
Prediction: Tennessee 24, Oklahoma 21
Statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
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