No. 21 Tennessee (8-4) is set to take on No. 17 Iowa (10-3) in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day in Orlando. It’s the Volunteers’ first appearance in the game since the 2001 season, where they crushed Michigan to the tune of 45-10.
It’s the biggest clash of styles that you can possibly draw up. Iowa’s slow, often putrid offense, going up against Tennessee’s lightning-fast spread attack.
You can say what you want about the Hawkeyes, but they just keep finding ways to win 8-10 games per year. But does that formula translate to a win against Tennessee?
There are a ton of variables here, so let’s dive in.
Obviously the big news this week has been the opt-out of Joe Milton, which will hand the keys to true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The loss of Milton wasn’t a huge deal to the betting market, moving the line down from -8 to -6.
Iamaleava, the former No. 1 overall player in the country, has attempted just 26 passes all season long during his four appearances. This will be our first extended look at Nico, who will assume the starting job in 2024.
Tennessee will lean heavily on Dylan Sampson with both Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright out of the picture. This will also force true freshman Cam Seldon into action.
The area of concern for Tennessee will be the secondary, where they’ve seen six players hit the portal.
The Volunteers will still have Gabe Jeudy-Lally, but will more than likely turn to true freshman Rickey Gibson. All the depth behind those two will be very young, lacking virtually any experience.
