Tennessee looks for win number one as the play host to Chattanooga. Will the Vols find the win column? The Volquest staff weighs in with their picks.

Tennessee seeks win number one and should get it against Chattanooga this afternoon. Now after failing to beat Georgia State as a nearly four touchdown favorite there’s a pause at the thought of Saturday being a ho-hum easy victory.

I fully expect the Vols to be emotionally more vested than they were against Georgia State and believe they will build off some good things they did in the loss to BYU.

There’s obviously plenty of things for this team to work starting with quarterback play on offense, continued growth in the run game and cleaning up errors defensively. This game should be about Tennessee and their improvement. But they must get the game in hand first.

Tennessee still has plenty of weaknesses and concerns. I don’t think the Mocs have enough to be about to exploit those issues and the Vols get their first win of 2019.

Tennessee 34, Chattanooga 10

Would anything surprise you this week? How many of you are still engaged in watching this game tomorrow? I’ll be honest in that my desire to watch it is small but I’ll be there. The Vols just need to see the ball cross the goal line just like a shooter needs to see the ball go through the net. This team just doesn’t know how to win because it’s not been frequent enough.

The call for a quarterback change may be warranted but it’s not going to change things as the guys behind Guarantano just aren’t ready. They do need some action this week though. The Vols will take more deep shots this week and I personally see Josh Palmer getting into the mix on the deep ball.

On the other side of the ball, the more Quavaris Crouch plays the better this defense will continue to be. Henry is Henry and Darrell Taylor is your most proven player. Keep getting Crouch some run to help add to the playmakers.

Tennessee wins 38-10.

Tennessee has had a tough start to its 2019 season, but I don’t see see a repeat of the 1958 riots when Chattanooga stunned the Vols 14-6 at Shields-Watkins Field.

This is a get-right game. For Jarrett Guarantano. For Alontae Taylor. For the whole team. A beatdown over an FCS team won’t erase Tennessee’s flaws or two bad losses, but this group needs some confidence. They need to hear the band play Rocky Top over and over. They need to the see fireworks go off after six or seven touchdowns.

The Mocs have a new coach and have loaded up on former FBS transfers, but outside of dynamic wideout Bryce Nunnelly, they don’t have much that scares the Vols. They’re small up front and lost a lot off a defense that was No. 2 in the SoCon a year ago.

It’s going to be steamy on Saturday, but for unlike the last two weekends, Tennessee fans will at least leave Neyland Stadium with a smile instead of a scowl.

Vols 42, Mocs 10

After a rough two weeks to start 2019 this looks like the kind of game Tennessee needs before opening SEC play next week at Florida. No disrespect to Chattanooga, but this is one that the Vols will win handily and finally get a chance to play some young players in a pressure-free setting.

Tennessee has a big edge on both lines of scrimmage, and coming off their best rushing performance in recent memory I’d look for Gray and Chandler to both rip off some big runs.

This should be the type of setting where Guarantano and his receivers can start to work out some of the obvious kinks we’ve seen in the first two weeks.

Defensively, the Mocs don’t look to have the kind of skill that will pressure Tennessee and result in big plays.

I’ll be surprised if Tennessee doesn’t have this one well in hand by halftime.

Tennessee 48, Chattanooga 13