Tennessee Volunteers vs. North Texas Mean Green: Complete Game Preview

Well, it isn't a bye week per se, but the Tennessee Volunteers will get a breather this weekend when North Texas comes to Neyland Stadium for homecoming.

Without question, the Mean Green are one of the worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, at 1-8 and having scored just 158 total points all year. Their average margin of defeat is 46-18.

Yikes.

Now, they've got to come to Knoxville to play an SEC team that had been rolling as of late prior to an uninspired 27-24 relief of a win over South Carolina on Saturday. The Vols have way too much talent for this to even be remotely close.

With the standard bumps and bruises prevalent across UT's roster, this may be a week where you see starters such as Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurd get a few series and then head to the sideline.

It's a good opportunity to get others like linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cameron Sutton and Derek Barnett (among others) a week to rest with minimal snaps before the season's final two games against Missouri and Vanderbilt.

Extended breaks likely won't affect the outcome, and the Vols could use getting their youngsters some long looks to see who can help down the stretch. Tennessee could probably play a bunch of second-stringers for the entire game and win this one. 

Let's take a look at everything you need to know for homecoming.

Date: Saturday, Nov. 14

Time: Noon ET

Place: Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

TV: SEC Network

Radio: Vol Network, Mean Green Sports Radio

Spread: Vols by 40.5, according to Oddsshark.

Tennessee Keys to Victory

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Death knell early

There's no disrespect meant for North Texas by saying this, but the Vols should just be able to show up Saturday and win.

Not playing the stars may wind up costing UT some style points, but at this point of the year, getting some additional rest is more important.

That's why the Vols don't need to mess around. Score a couple of quick touchdowns and then let a large number of the starters watch the rest. While letting the Mean Green hang around still probably can't result in a loss, there's no reason for this to even be a ballgame by halftime. They've got no business hanging around.

This should be a game where UT just out-talents the Mean Green; they lost to Portland State 66-7, for goodness sake.

Coach Mike Canales' team won't be able to score a lot against the Vols, so that will pose a major problem rather quickly.

Rest those who need it

After Saturday's narrow win against the Gamecocks, coach Butch Jones noted that Joshua Dobbs "has been banged up" recently, though he hasn't said much about it.

"He’s been a warrior," Jones said. "He grinds through it…"

UT's quarterback is not the only one, either. The Vols offensive line has been a revolving door of bumps and bruises; the wide receiving corps, too.

Others like Jalen Reeves-Maybin appear to be a little heavy-legged after playing so many snaps recently. Even with the bye week two weeks ago, UT needs to gear up for the two remaining SEC games.

They can't lose this one, so this week needs to be treated as much like another bye as possible. It comes at a great time for Tennessee.

Address areas of importance

This needs to be a game to address some issues, much like the way the Western Carolina game was early in the year.

Not only do youngsters such as Preston Williams (if healthy), Jauan Jennings, Quinten Dormady, John Kelly, Micah Abernathy and others need to get reps, Tennessee needs to work vital reps.

Rather than just hand the ball off with the backups in, Jones needs to just run his offense. What if something happens to Dobbs? Dormady needs to get some real, live reps. What if Tennessee has another injury or suspension on the back end of its defense? A player like Evan Berry needs a handful of snaps.

The Vols have improved on throwing the deep ball lately, but they need to keep cultivating that. Alvin Kamara needs to get whole series to prove he can carry the load for long periods of time. UT should work on some new blitz packages and get players such as Kyle Phillips and Kahlil McKenzie extended defensive looks.

This needs to be a game where the Vols try some new things and see who can help them down the stretch.

North Texas Keys to Victory

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

Major miracle

Let's be frank: North Texas needs for absolutely everything to go right Saturday to have a chance to win. Then, it needs some of its best players to play the games of their college career so far.

The Mean Green have a bad defense and an even worse offense, and they haven't really even played much of anybody this year. 

Some of the UT players on Saturday night after the game couldn't even remember the name of this week's opponent. They weren't being disrespectful; UNT is just not one of those teams that stay on the tip of your tongue.

Stranger things have happened before, for sure. The Vols have a long, frustrating history of playing down to their opponent, and, occasionally, a Wyoming 2008 will pop up. That was an inexplicable loss to a Cowboys team that eventually fired its coach.

So, it happens. But it would be an absolute stunner if it did here.

Force turnovers

For the past couple of years, UT wasn't a good enough football team to get away with turnovers. That's what makes the past two games so puzzling and frustrating for the Vols.

Against Kentucky and South Carolina, UT had five turnovers. Joshua Dobbs had three more passes that actually could have been intercepted, and two were only prevented from being so by receivers Josh Malone and Josh Smith playing the role of defensive back.

A bad case of the butterfingers against North Texas could help the Mean Green begin to believe.

"Part of the evolution of a football team and a football program is finding a way to win the football game when you know and your players know they didn’t do their best," Jones said after the struggle of a win over the Gamecocks. “I give South Carolina a lot of credit.

“Now we need to get the problems corrected, which we will. But, I’m just happy for the players because their resiliency showed."

We'll see how UT takes care of the ball the rest of the way. If the Vols struggle against North Texas, they'll definitely do it against the strong defenses of Mizzou and Vandy.

Tennessee Players to Watch

Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Quinten Dormady

Joshua Dobbs takes a beating every Saturday because of how much UT likes to keep the ball in his hands. Not only did he absorb a bunch of hits in the passing game early in the year, lately he's endured some big blows running the ball.

Though Dobbs normally does a good job of protecting himself, he really took some shots against the Gamecocks.

He needs to just enjoy most of Saturday against North Texas.

Every Tennessee fan wants to see the future of the quarterback position in true freshman, strong-armed Texan Quinten Dormady. He didn't get a ton of reps against Western Carolina, but he made some "Wow" passes that excited everybody watching.

Hopefully against the Mean Green, he'll get two-plus full quarters of action and maybe 15-20 pass attempts. An extended audition is not only important, it's necessary. Especially with the hits Dobbs has taken recently.

John Kelly

Way back in the preseason, UT running backs coach Robert Gillespie made the offhand comment that he thought he had three NFL running backs in his team meeting room.

It's been obvious this season that Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara both have the ability to play on the next level. But after his first extended action of the year against Kentucky, Kelly showed the Big Orange Nation why his position coach believes he's going to be pretty good, too.

Kelly had 58 yards on 10 carries against the Wildcats, and the 5'9", 212-pound Detroit native should get another several carries against the Mean Green.

Late in the last recruiting cycle, the Vols started recruiting Kelly seemingly out of the blue. Once he chose to come to Knoxville rather than go to his father's alma mater (Minnesota) to play running back or Michigan or Michigan State to play on defense, UT quit recruiting runners.

Kendall Bussey Jr. went to Texas A&M, and Bryce Love went to Stanford. With more and more reps, everybody is seeing why UT liked Kelly enough to recruit him over those other highly ranked runners.

Micah Abernathy

The refreshing story of Malik Foreman at least temporarily resurrecting his career with a few monster plays against South Carolina, including the game-winning forced fumble, and helping shut down Pharoh Cooper was a great footnote to the Carolina win.

But Abernathy is a key future player in that UT secondary.

Though it's hard to see him playing nickelback over Rashaan Gaulden, that's where he's slotted this year behind Foreman. He also is athletic enough to play cornerback, and it's possible he could pack on a little muscle and move to safety, too.

Abernathy is extremely talented, and he may wind up helping a lot this year. The Vols need to get him a lot of snaps against North Texas.

North Texas Players to Watch

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

Jeffrey Wilson

The Mean Green aren't scoring many points, but that's not Wilson's fault. The 6'0", 195-pound sophomore is enjoying a quality season running the ball, even if he has reached paydirt just once.

Wilson is fourth in Conference USA with 683 rushing yards and is averaging nearly six yards per carry. Teaming with DaMarcus Smith, the runner/quarterback duo has helped UNT improve its stagnant offense lately. The Mean Green even beat Texas San Antonio a couple of weeks ago for their first win of the year.

Denton Record-Chronicle UNT beat reporter Bret Vito told the News-Star's Sean Isabella:

"

UNT has completely changed its offense that is now built around the zone-read running game with Smith and running back Jeffrey Wilson. Both guys are really good as ball carriers. The zone look also opens up some easier throws for Smith in the passing game on play action. Smith has struggled at times with accuracy in the passing game. UNT has essentially rebuilt its offense around its best offensive players and their strengths.

"

Wilson will likely find tough sledding against the Vols, but if he breaks a couple, he could get the offense going.

Carlos Harris

The 5'8", 185-pound jitterbug receiver from Frisco, Texas, will go down in the record books as one of the best pass-catchers in school history.

In a lopsided loss to Louisiana Tech, Harris moved into third on the all-time Mean Green receptions list with 189. He moved past UNT Hall of Famer and Olympian bobsledder Johnny Quinn, who had 187 catches in his career that spanned from 2003-06, according to Vito.

Harris isn't one of those big, physical receivers who has given Tennessee fits this year. Instead, he's smaller than Pharoh Cooper, a player UT did a good job minimizing against South Carolina. North Texas needs a big game from its star.

Kishawn McClain

The North Texas starting sophomore safety is enjoying a humongous year, mostly because the Mean Green's front seven is struggling so badly.

That doesn't minimize McClain's impact, however.

He is third in Conference USA with 83 tackles, and he made perhaps the defensive play of the year for UNT, scooping up a UTSA fumble and scooting 45 yards for a go-ahead touchdown in the Mean Green's only win of the year.

He'll get his share of tackles against the Vols.

What They're Saying

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Joshua Dobbs, who is normally very robotic and by-the-book in interviews, was very candid about how the Vols handled a two-touchdown lead in the win over South Carolina.

The Gamecocks stormed back to tie the game in what wound up being a nail-biter. Dobbs said:

"

They started doing some things, bringing different pressures. But we were on the sideline talking. We kind of felt like it was really us that changed. We kind of let the foot off the pedal. And every team we play, in the SEC especially, they’re good, and if you let the foot off the pedal, they’re going to be able to come back in the game, as what happened tonight.

Once we get up like that, we’ve got to keep playing, keep fighting. The game’s not over 10 minutes into the first half. We’ve got to keep playing. We’ll come out and do better, but a win’s a win. We’ll take it how they come.

"

Tennessee senior left tackle Kyler Kerbyson on playing mistake-laden football and still being able to find a way to get the win against a pesky South Carolina team last weekend:

"

It's a testament to where we are now compared to where we were before. In past years, it was we literally had to play our best game to have a chance, and now we can have mistakes on offense and defense and the other side will bail us out. 

We don't have to exactly play the best game and we can come away with the win. That just shows how much our team has grown and how much this program is really working. We are on the up-and-up, and we plan to keep on going.

"

FOXSports.com discussed why Tennessee is such an overwhelming favorite over the hapless Mean Green:

"

It would be a shock if 5-4 Tennessee doesn't earn its sixth win at home this week against 1-8 North Texas, but just how big of an upset would it be? Well the game's opening line was set at 40.5-points… Can Tennessee really win by five plus touchdowns? Considering the Mean Green lost to Portland State by 59, Louisiana Tech by 43, Iowa by 46 and lost to 1-8 SMU by 18, the huge point spread may not be big enough. 

"

Prediction

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

It's a dangerous line to put any money toward considering Tennessee's tenuous late-season position where it desperately needs to rest a plethora of starters before what figures to be a hard-hitting conclusion to the regular season.

But the bottom line is that Tennessee is far too talented for North Texas to stay in the same stratosphere.

An undefeated Iowa team scored 62 points and beat the Mean Green by 46 points. Though UT has far from a spotless record, the Volunteers throttled the Hawkeyes in last year's TaxSlayer Bowl, so maybe the two major-conference foes will provide similar results.

Tennessee should be able to play Quinten Dormady and a bunch of other backups and consistently put up points. It's not really coach Butch Jones' style not to play his starters, so you'll probably see the Vols' marquee players at least into the second quarter.

By then, UT should have three or four touchdowns on the board.

After that, it's possible the Vols will get scores in the return game and even on defense. The points could pile up in a hurry. That would be the best-case scenario for the Vols, who need to rest players while still winning big in front of the home folks.

That shouldn't be an issue.

Prediction: Vols 52, North Texas 10