Roman Harper defends prediction that Tennessee will beat Alabama or Georgia in 2022

Paul Finebaum hosted his first-ever Twitter Space chat on Friday, hosting South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, former Alabama quarterback Blake Sims and safety Roman Harper, among others. During the chat, Finebaum demanded that the fellow ESPN analyst defend his prediction that the Tennessee Volunteers will go 10-2 in year two under Josh Heupel.

Not only did Harper predict a 10-2 finish, but he also outlined how the Vols could get there – by beating the Georgia Bulldogs.

“It’s always amazing to see the growth process between quarterback and coach and a friendly system where we will see offense, but not only that, but they should be more opportunistic and better defensively,” Harper said.

“Will they be able to get enough stops? I know they’re going to score points in bunches, but they got to be more opportunistic. I need them to cause more turnovers and if they do those things, they could
upset Alabama or Georgia this year? I don’t know which one, but if I’m looking at it, Alabama is a better team so I’ll take Georgia.”

Harper stands by lofty Tennessee prediction

Finebaum accused the former Alabama safety of trying to go viral on Twitter with his hot take, but Harper wouldn’t back down.

“One thing we don’t do at the network is, you know, we don’t drug test, we don’t ask for doctor’s notes,” Finebaum joked. “But I mean, you’re serious. I mean, this is not just some effort to get to be trending on Twitter, right?”

“Paul, I never say things just to do it,” Harper insisted. “You know that you know that about me. I don’t. I don’t even look at that stuff. It was amazing to me, I didn’t even know anything was going on until my brother called me and was like, ‘Dude, so you’re saying we gotta root for Tennessee this year?’ I’m like what are you talking about and he’s like, “Well, I mean, you picked him to go 10-2, people are going crazy.'”

The Volunteers face the Crimson Tide first on Oct. 15, then the reigning national champions several weeks later on Nov. 5 in Athens.