Why Tennessee vs Chattanooga is an Important Game for the Volunteers

Why Tennessee's week one matchup against Chattanooga is still an important game for the Volunteers.

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel during UT's first spring football practice on Monday, March 18, 2024. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Why Tennessee's week one matchup against Chattanooga is still an important game for the Volunteers.

The Tennessee Volunteers are getting their college football season started this week against Chattanooga in Neyland Stadium. The excitement of college football starting back up has fans excited for the weekend, but it's not secret that Tennessee does not have one of the better football games this weekend. However, while it may not be a ranked matchup, this is still an important game for Tennessee.

The Volunteers are set to start quarterback Nico Iamaleava. It will be the second start of his career as he started against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl last season and was impressive. The Chattanooga game will allow Iamaleava to get settled back into his starting role without much chaos happening throughout the game (Hopefully). Knowing that Tennessee has to play NC State, Oklahoma and Florida in the coming weeks after the Chattanooga game, it becomes important for the team to work out all of their kinks in week one.

Iamaleava isn't the only young player who could capitalize off of this game though. Defensive back Boo Carter could also get some valuable reps in this game. Carter has not been named the starter at STAR, but he and Christian Harrison have been competing for it following Jourdan Thomas' injury, and assuming he gets a shot against Chattanooga, Carter could not only impress the coaching staff but at the very least get his feet wet.

That also means Tennessee will have the opportunity to potentially answer any remaining questions on the roster before the scheudle starts to heat up. It's a great opening game for the Volunteers to ease their way into the season and find out the Saturday identity of this football. So while it may not have the hype that some of the other week one games have, it's still an important game for this program.

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