The Tennessee Volunteers (2-3 overall, 2-3 SEC) and Arkansas Razorbacks (2-3, 2-3) square off Saturday in an SEC cross-over battle between two teams looking to get to .500. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. We analyze the Tennessee-Arkansas college football betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Tennessee at Arkansas: Betting odds and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 8:51 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Tennessee -118 (bet $118 to win $100) | Arkansas +100 (bet $100 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Tennessee -1.5 (-110) | Arkansas +1.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 52.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Tennessee at Arkansas: Three things to know
- Tennessee has lost three straight games — straight up and against the spread — after starting the season 2-0. The Volunteers’ combined ATS margin over their trio of setbacks is a whopping minus-53.
- Arkansas DB Hudson Clark has three interceptions in 2020. The Razorbacks rank second in the nation with 10 interceptions, and they are tied for third in the country with 13 total takeaways.
- The Vols offense has gotten off schedule more frequently than it desires. Compounding that issue thus far has been a shaky performance on third downs. Tennessee owns a third-down conversion rate of just 26.1%. Among teams that have played more than two games, only three teams have posted a worse figure.
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Tennessee at Arkansas: Odds, prediction, betting lines and picks
Prediction
Tennessee 28, Arkansas 24
Money line (ML)
Tennessee (-118) has the more solid recruited talent base, and there are some fade-worthy aspects to the Razorbacks’ support peripherals (a bit of turnover luck and perhaps more field-position tilt than has been earned, etc.). The Vols are a decent play against the number (see below), but a tag of -115 or better would make for a solid ML play as well. Consider a PARTIAL-UNIT PLAY ON TENNESSEE.
Against the spread (ATS)
Some of the analytics measuring what these teams do in the trenches are a substantial lean toward TENNESSEE (-1.5, -110) in this matchup. If the Vols can avoid being a minus-2 or worse in turnover margin, get a little more production in the big play department and avoid early-down misfires, they can cover with room to spare. There are plenty of ifs there, but on balance, the risk-reward has some value. BACK TENNESSEE TO COVER.
Over/Under (O/U)
The projected game flow here is a bit cloudy and several scenarios closely bracket the total as is. PASS.
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