KU Jayhawks football vs. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles: Prediction, betting line, TV
THE DETAILS
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Booth Memorial Stadium, Lawrence
TV: ESPN+ (Online streaming service, subscription required)
Radio: WHB (810 AM) in Kansas City; KFH (1240 AM, 97.5 FM) in Wichita
The line: Kansas by 27.5 as of Wednesday night
PREDICTION
Kansas, still in the early stages of a football program rebuild, has seemingly chosen the right team — that is a team it is expected to defeat handily — for its first opponent in 2022.
Tennessee Tech, which went 3-8 a year ago, is picked to finish fifth of seven teams in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Golden Eagles have had little success under fifth-year coach Dewayne Alexander, whose squad was clobbered by Tennessee of the SEC, 56-0, a year ago. That lopsided loss came in Week 3. Tech lost to Samford, 52-14, and Furman, 26-0, in a pair of home games to open that 2021 campaign.
Tennessee Tech has not won a game against a Football Bowl Subdivision team since 1980, going 2-36 all-time against the bigger Division I schools. The Golden Eagles are 0-3 all time in football against current Big 12 schools.
Nine starters return on offense and defense for both the Golden Eagles and Jayhawks. A big unknown for the visitors is at quarterback. Senior transfer Jeremiah Oatsvall didn’t play a down at Memphis last season after four years at Austin Peay. He’ll be running the West Coast offense at Tennessee Tech.
KU, meanwhile, has no quarterback controversy this season. Jalon Daniels, who is one of four team captains, is a solid No. 1 after engineering a road win over Texas last year followed by narrow losses to TCU and West Virginia to close the campaign. Jason Bean, who started nine games last season for KU, is considered a more than capable backup who possesses great speed.
At running back, KU has the four-headed monster of Devin Neal, Ky Thomas, Daniel Hishaw and Savion Morrison; Tech has David Gist who gained 901 yards rushing a year ago.
Word is Lonnie Phelps, a senior transfer from Miami (Ohio) could be an exciting newcomer on a defense led by safety Kenny Logan Jr.
There’s no reason to pick against the Jayhawks on Friday night. It appears the right opponent is coming to town for a game KU simply has to win to keep the fans’ attention as the late September start of basketball nears.
I’ll say KU wins big and barely misses covering the spread.
Kansas 44, Tennessee Tech 17
