SEC football predictions: Why this Tennessee trip to The Swamp will be different | Adams

When Tennessee football last beat Florida in The Swamp, Phillip Fulmer was coaching the Vols, and Ron Zook was coaching the Gators.

That’s the last time UT had a coaching advantage against Florida in The Swamp. Until now.

Coach Josh Heupel already has ended UT's losing streaks to Florida and Alabama while leading the Vols from near the bottom of the SEC East to the top 10 nationally. Saturday evening, he will have a chance to end Tennessee's nine-game losing streak in The Swamp.

Things aren't going as well for second-year Florida coach Billy Napier, whose 6-7 season in 2022 included a loss to Vanderbilt and a bowl trouncing from Oregon State. Moreover, the Gators also looked in disarray in losing their opener to Utah.

At least, Napier is recruiting well. But a highly ranked 2024 recruiting class won’t help Saturday.

Tennessee 31, Florida 23: The Swamp is just a building. Coaching will change the course of the Tennessee-Florida series.

LSU 37, Mississippi State 23: The Bulldogs warmed up for LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels by chasing elusive quarterback Jayden de Laura in a 31-24 overtime victory over Arizona.

Their pursuit paid off with four interceptions. But de Laura completed 32 of 46 passes for 346 yards and rushed for another 44 yards.

Daniels will have more help.

Kansas State 38, Missouri 12: The Wildcats return eight offensive starters from the team that defeated Missouri 40-12. But that was in Manhattan, Kansas.

Things could be different at Missouri’s Faurot Field. But not much different.

Georgia 48, South Carolina 20: Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler has completed 83.3% of his passes (55 of 66) in two games. But he has to be upright to complete passes.

That will be a problem against Georgia, as it was against North Carolina, which sacked Rattler nine times in the season opener.

Alabama 47, South Florida 13: The Bulls gave up more than 40 points in nine games last season on the way to a 1-11 record.

Not surprisingly, they made a coaching change. Surprisingly, they didn’t hire someone with defensive expertise.

Instead, they hired former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, apparently with the hope of fielding an offense that could keep up with opposing offenses.

In a best-case scenario for USF, Alabama won’t remember Golesh was the offensive coordinator in Tennessee’s 52-49 victory over the Tide last season.

Kentucky 37, Akron 10: You might be wondering: “Didn’t the Wildcats already play Akron?”

No, but I can understand the question. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has never met a MAC team he didn’t like and has scheduled accordingly. And MAC opponents often run together.

The Wildcats opened their season with a victory over Ball State. Expect more of the same Saturday.

Ball State was ranked fifth in the MAC West in preseason. Akron was ranked fifth in the East.

Arkansas 34, BYU 20: You might think these schools have nothing in common. But there is a Big 12 connection.

Arkansas is a former member of the Big 12. BYU is a Big 12 rookie.

But you can’t discuss conference-hopping without mentioning BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis. He began his career with Southern California in the Pac-12, transferred to Pittsburgh of the ACC, and joined BYU in the Big 12 for his senior season.

The Cougars will wish Arkansas quarterback K J Jefferson had transferred somewhere else before this game.

Ole Miss 42, Georgia Tech 20: If the SEC considers more expansion, the Rebels likely will lobby for the Yellow Jackets after their 42-0 victory last season. Ole Miss totaled 547 yards and scored some of the easiest touchdowns it had all season.

Georgia Tech seemingly improved itself via the transfer portal but not as much as Ole Miss did. This game is worth a cursory glance just to see coach Lane Kiffin’s dog retrieve a kicking tee.

Texas A&M 45, Louisiana-Monroe 10: This will the last chance before SEC play to fix a defense that was shredded by Miami's passing attack. The Aggies' next three games will be against West rivals Auburn, Arkansas and Alabama.

Auburn 54, Samford 0: Not much has changed since the schools began this in-state rivalry in 1903. Auburn prevailed 120 years ago 58-0.

Samford has been shut out 17 more times since then. In their most recent meeting, Auburn remained unbeaten in the series with a 52-0 victory.

ADAMS: Can Tennessee football turn bitter to sweet at The Swamp? Ranking 5 worst Florida showings.

Vanderbilt 27, UNLV 24: Barry Odom is back in the head-coaching business, which qualifies as an upset following his lack of success at Missouri. UNLV’s football standards aren’t as high.

Nonetheless, Odom will be expected to win more than seven games in three seasons. Previous coach Marcus Arroyo was fired after going 7-23 in three seasons.

Record: 23-4 (.852), 9-6 (.600) against the spread.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why this Tennessee football trip to The Swamp will be different