Virginia vs Tennessee Odds: It’s Joe Milton’s Time To Shine!
The Senior QB Will Be Given Opportunity to Lead The Vols' Offense in 2023
The Tennessee Volunteers will take on the Virginia Cavaliers in what should be an epic Week 1 non-conference game.
Tennessee finally turned the corner last season under Josh Heupel. He led Tennessee to an 11-2 record, with wins over Alabama and LSU. However, the Vols eventually lost to South Carolina to finish the regular season. That brushed any chance of making the College Football Playoff out of the way.
Those aspirations haven’t changed this season. They’ve got an AP NCAA football ranking of 12 to begin the season. They’ve also got an SEC NCAAF schedule that will give them a solid strength of schedule this season.
Tennessee will no longer have Hendon Hooker at quarterback or Jalin Hyatt at wide receiver. But the offense should still be just fine with Joe Milton under center.
Meanwhile, Virginia went just 3-7 overall last season. The Cavaliers only won one ACC game all season under Tony Elliott. Virginia hasn’t figured out if they’d rather throw or pass the ball more. Therefore, the Cavaliers have had too many inconsistencies.
Here’s a look at the Virginia vs Tennessee Odds for this Week 1 NCAAF matchup in Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Virginia vs Tennessee 
Day/Time:
Location: Nissan Stadium
Streaming: ABC
Is Joe Milton Ready to Lead?
Joe Milton has been playing college football since 2018. He first got a genuine opportunity in 2020, but he completed just 56.7% of asses and threw four interceptions on 141 attempts with the Michigan Wolverines.
Eventually, he lost his job to Cade McNamara, who lost his job to J.J. McCarthy.
But the change of scenery and coaching style might’ve helped when Milton transferred to Tennessee. He threw 62 attempts in 2021 and completed only 51.6% of passes.
However, last season, when Hendon Hooker was thrown to the bench in a blowout (and when Hooker got hurt), Milton produced.
Milton completed 64.6% of passes, threw 971 yards, and added ten touchdowns while throwing no interceptions. This will be his sixth college football season. He better not make those same “rookie” mistakes. But Tennessee might have something with Milton.
He got to play behind Hooker and ultimately learn from a near Heisman finalist. He fits Tennessee’s offense as they look for big plays down the field. Milton has one of the best arms in college football. Before coming to Tennessee, he was inaccurate. But that changed last season.
When Milton has won starting jobs in college football, he hasn’t been able to hold on. But this is finally his team now. He’ll be able to make mistakes and return to the field.
As mentioned above, Milton won’t have Jalin Hyatt and will also be without Cedric Tillman, who played half of the season last year. Those two were terrific pass-catchers. However, he’ll still have USC transfer Bru McCoy and Ramel Keyton making plays. They also added Donte Thornton from Oregon and have Squirrel White, who should be a dangerous slot receiver.
The pass protection was good enough for the Vols. It would’ve broken down in many other offenses. But the Volunteers get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly.
Meanwhile, on defense, Tennessee wasn’t always consistent. Despite winning that game, they allowed 63 to South Carolina and gave up 49 points to Alabama. The defensive front was aggressive and good. But with Da’Jon Terry at Oklahoma, the defense is probably weaker than last year.
The pass rush isn’t even the worst part of the defense. It’s the secondary. Last year’s secondary was wildly overhyped. Now they’ll be a little bit more experienced with fewer plays made at the college level.
Will Tony Muskett Stay Consistent at FBS Level?
The Virginia Cavaliers have named Tony Muskett as the starting quarterback for the football team. He’s a senior from Springfield, VA. But he played at Monmouth for three seasons before jumping into the FBS level.
Muskett has thrown for over 5,600 yards and has completed 51 touchdowns with only 16 interceptions. He never made a lot of mistakes at the FCS level. But now he’s getting his first start for Virginia against an SEC-caliber defense.
That’s a bit scary.
Muskett is a pure pocket passer. He added just 3.2 yards per rush on 65 attempts last season. He’s got legs, but again, his legs won’t work well at this level.
He took on Middle Tennessee State in 2021 and completed 64.1% of passes. However, he threw one touchdown and one interception and was packed three times while throwing for only 177 yards. Expectations shouldn’t be extremely high for Muskett.
He’s playing for a NCAAF team that added just three wins last season with Brennan Armstrong. Armstrong leveled up for North Carolina State; now Virginia is stuck with Muskett.
This offense lost Keytaon Thompson to graduation, Dontayvion Wicks to the Packers, and Billy Kemp to Nebraska. His best option might be Malik Washington, who added 109 passes in three seasons for Northwestern.
Virginia vs Tennessee
The Virginia Cavaliers didn’t get better.
The offense probably got worse after winning just three games last season. Meanwhile, the defense lost some of their secondary pieces from last year. The secondary was perhaps the only area where Virginia was elite in 2022.
That’s going to sting.
The Virginia Cavaliers are 0-5 against the spread in their last five non-conference games.
Not even Alabama or LSU’s secondary could stop Tennessee’s incredible passing offense. Joe Milton isn’t Hendon Hooker. But he doesn’t have to be. He needs to be consistent and accurate because everyone in America knows about his arm talent.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s offensive line will get run over by Tennessee up front. The offensive line for Virginia was horrible in the passing game last year, and I don’t expect that to change this year. That’s ultimately one of the reasons why Armstrong dipped from Virginia to North Carolina State.
Check out Virginia vs Tennessee odds and pick below.
Grab Tennessee
Tennessee can run up the score fast. There are some unknowns with its receiver core. But Jalin Hyatt wasn’t projected to be an elite receiver to begin the year. Then he became one of the best receivers in the nation with the Vols and landed with the Giants in this year’s NFL Draft.
Some college football spreads are outrageous in Week 1. The Virginia vs Tennessee odds aren’t that surprising. Tennessee is a 28-point favorite, with the total at 56.5. Virginia’s offense is unlikely to keep up with Tennessee in this game. Playing an SEC opponent will come as a shock for Tony Muskett.
For NCAAF betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
