The Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers are playing their own little “Orange Bowl” on Saturday. Or maybe it’s the “UT Bowl?” Either way, by the end of the game, we’ll know which shade of orange reigns supreme in college football and which team is the true UT.
Surprisingly, this is only the fourth meeting between the two, and the first since 1969. Texas owns a narrow edge in the series at 2-1 in their three Cotton Bowl matchups.
The Longhorns are four-point road favorites. The No. 1 team in the land is still riding high after their Week 2 comeback win over Ohio State. Last week’s unsatisfying 30-6 victory over UTSA would be written off as a blip if Arch Manning and company take care of business against Tennessee.
However, this is Manning’s first road test of the season. Last year, Texas was 2-3 away from home. Both road wins were in overtime against lesser opposition, and those road losses included an upset at Florida.
Tennessee is 3-0 to start the year with blowout wins over Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State. The Volunteers are averaging 6.7 yards per carry on the ground. Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has gotten off to a strong start with two SEC Freshman of the Week honors in his first three games. That said, Texas’ highly rated defense will launch Brandon out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Last year, Tennessee played three ranked teams at home and lost each of those games. Even so, they were within one score in losses to Georgia, 44-41, and Oklahoma, 33-27.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on ABC. You can keep track of the score, play-by-play and stats throughout the game.
Score
Live game tracker and play-by-play
Box score: Texas vs. Tennessee player stats and team stats
Game leaders and summary
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