Betting preview: Tennessee Volunteers

With college football season on the horizon, ESPN Chalk's college football experts -- Phil Steele, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris Fallica -- give you betting previews of the top 25 teams in the ESPN College Football Rankings. They break down each team's strengths and weaknesses, along with season win total bets and national title odds.

Odds from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook as of Sept. 1.

Tennessee Volunteers

National title odds: 60-1
Season win total: 8

Phil Steele

Strengths: Momentum and experience. Last year, Tennessee was the only FBS team with zero returning starters on the offensive or defensive line. The Vols got better as the season went on, and they won four of their last five games, including an impressive bowl win over Iowa. They have had three consecutive top-notch recruiting classes, and all eight units rank in my top units in the front of the magazine.

Weaknesses: Although the streak was great for Tennessee and all units are talented, this team barely made a bowl game last year. The Volunteers only defeated two Power 5 teams that made it to bowls, and both finished with just seven wins.

Over/under: Right now in Vegas, Tennessee will be favored in nine or 10 games, so this number of eight is surprising in that respect. I have the Volunteers dogs in three and two toss-up games, so my number is eight.

National title: Although a team in the SEC East has an easier path to the SEC title game than a team in the West, this team is talented but still young and is 1-11 vs. Top 25 teams and 0-8 vs. Top 10 teams under Butch Jones. A team such as this needs to learn how to win, and to win the East, it would have to knock off a ranked team and then beat three top-10 teams in a row to win it all. Odds of 60-1 sound correct to me.

"Stanford Steve" Coughlin

Is 2015 the year the Vols are back in contention for an SEC title, or is 2016 the year for those expectations?

I have zero problem with how Jones has come in and laid the foundation for this program, which had so many good years when I was growing up, but I get the sense everyone is jumping on the bandwagon a bit too soon. Remember, the Vols have been ranked one week in the past six years; it seems like they are getting way too much credit for a bowl win over an Iowa program that everyone in the country has questions about.

I love the personnel the Vols will have on the field, especially when you bring up guys such as QB Joshua Dobbs, RB Jalen Hurd and do-everything-guy Pig Howard. Those three will obviously make the offense more potent than the fan base has seen the past few years. The Vols have an enormous -- I mean gigantic -- opportunity to get some national recognition when the Oklahoma Sooners come to Knoxville on Sept. 12. As I pointed out with Georgia, I don't like any SEC East team's chances for the College Football Playoff.

O/U: Breaking the streak against Florida could mean I am wrong on the total, but I don't think the Vols get to eight wins. Go under here.

Chris Fallica

The SEC East is wide open, and many think the Vols can emerge from the division. However, Tennessee is 0-16 against Alabama and Florida the past eight years and lost by an average of 19.8 PPG (two games were decided by single digits). A 6-2 record might be good enough to win the East, which means beating Florida and Georgia would be a must for any tiebreaker. Until the Volunteers do that, it's hard for me to hop on the bandwagon.

O/U: The Vols have four automatic wins, which means they have to win five games from among Oklahoma, at Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, at Alabama, at Kentucky, South Carolina or at Missouri to go over eight. I think this is a pretty good number, and I'd steer clear.

Title odds: Despite being in the SEC East -- and, in theory, the easier road to the SEC Championship Game -- I think the Vols are an underlay at 60-1. Way too trendy for me.