Tennessee vs. Chattanooga odds: Early point spread released on Volunteers, Mocs

Knoxville and Chattanooga are a little over 100 miles apart in the eastern part of their state. The Mocs will make that trip to Rocky Top this weekend, though, to play No. 15 Tennessee to open their seasons in college football.

Per FanDuel, the Volunteers will be a 38.5-point favorite (-110) over UTC. The over-under for the matchup is set at 56.5 points.

Watch College Football Games Live -Try for Free Fubo! Click HERE NOW

How to watch Chattanooga vs. Tennessee

Time: 12:45 p.m. ET
Channel: SEC Network, ESPN+
Location: Neyland Stadium (Knoxville, Tennessee)

For their opening matchup against Chattanooga, the Vols will run through the T in Neyland Stadium. It will be the first of a triple-header on the opening day for the network with it coming before Old Dominion vs. South Carolina (4:15 p.m. ET) and Southern Miss vs. Kentucky (7:45 p.m. EST).

More on Chattanooga vs. Tennessee

Tennessee and Chattanooga are part of the same in-state school system for UT.

As for the football field, they’ve met 44 times in history going back to the 1890s. The Volunteers have won 40, the Mocs have won a pair, and they’ve tied twice all-time. Tennessee has won 10 consecutive meetings with their last loss coming in 1958. Their most recent meeting came in 2019 with the Vols winning in a shutout at 45-0.

This could be an exciting season for Tennessee in their fourth under Josh Heupel.

Much of that excitement has to do with this being the full-on debut of QB Nico Iamaleava. The former top prospect will lead what has been a leading offense in each of the last three years this season as a redshirt sophomore. He, along with other pieces they have on their roster, have their program and fanbase thinking about a possible berth in the College Football Playoff.

The Mocs are coming into their sixth season under Rusty Wright as a Southern Conference program in the FCS. They went 8-5 last year to bring his record there so far to 30-22 as they’ve yet to finish outside the top three in their league since 2019.

UTK and UTC will have plenty of connections in that part of their state this weekend. Even so, Tennessee will be an obviously heavy favorite in the game with Vegas’ spread for it pushing nearly 40 points.