Tennessee football vs. Pitt: Live stream, game time, TV, betting preview
Coming off an ugly 38-6 win over the Bowling Green Falcons to kick off the Josh Heupel era, Tennessee football takes the field against a Power Five opponent for the first time this year Saturday. The Vols will face a program they share a huge connection with.
UT will take on the Pittsburgh Panthers at Neyland Stadium Saturday. The game has been dubbed the Johnny Majors Classic in honor of the late icon who led Pitt to a national title in 1976 and led the Vols to four SEC Championships, one as an All-American Heisman runner-up in 1956 and three as a head coach in 1985, 1989 and 1990.
WynnBET’s Week 2 betting odds have Pitt as a three and a half point favorite with the over/under set at 56. The moneyline is -180 for Pitt and +150 for the Vols. Here is all the information you need for Tennessee football’s second game of the year.
ESPN. Saturday, Sept. 11. 1-0. 1-0. 839. Pitt -3.5; Over/Under 56. Noon ET. 866
Live stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Vol Network; Pitt Panthers Radio Network
Listen online: UTSports; 937 The Fan
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Entering its seventh year under head coach Pat Narduzzi, Pitt is coming off a 6-5 campaign. The Panthers dominated the UMASS Minutemen 51-7 to open the season last week and enter this game looking like a much more complete team.
Part of this matchup is a clash of styles. Heupel runs an up-tempo spread offense that is heavily based on utilizing the run to set up big plays, while Narduzzi runs a balanced attack, with much more success in the passing game, and likes to control the clock. He also relies on an elite pass rush, which has been a staple of the program for years.
The only two times these teams met were in 1980 and 1983. Johnny Majors was coaching Tennessee football by that point, and Pitt won both times, 30-6 under Jackie Sherrill in 1980 and 13-3 under Foge Fazio in 1983. Both games were played in Knoxville, Tenn., as is this one.
On the other hand, Heupel and Narduzzi have gone head to head twice. In 2018, Heupel’s UCF Knights blew out Narduzzi’s Panthers 45-14 in Orlando. The next year, in Pittsburgh, UCF came back from 21-0 down to take a 31-21 lead only to lose 35-34 late. At the time, that was Pitt’s first regular season loss since 2016.
If Heupel wins this game, he’ll be the first UT head coach since firing Phillip Fulmer to win his first game against a Power Five foe. All four previous coaches lost theirs, and they were all non-conference games. Lane Kiffin lost to the UCLA Bruins, Derek Dooley and Butch Jones lost to the Oregon Ducks and Jeremy Pruitt lost to the West Virginia Mountaineers.
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Should Tennessee football win this game, the Vols will be in great position for bowl eligibility. This is somewhat of a bellwether matchup for them. Pitt will have plenty of chances with or without this game to reach six wins, though, so the sense of urgency is much greater on Rocky Top. After this matchup, the Vols will host the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles next Saturday.