Ball State vs Tennessee football: 5 things to watch in Thursday game

Ball State will play Tennessee on Thursday at 7 p.m. E.T. The game is on the SEC Network. Ball State finished just out of the Top 25 in both the preseason Associated Press (No. 26) and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaching Poll ( No. 28).

John Paddock will start for Ball State against Tennessee on Thursday night. It's his first start in college. He's been a backup for three seasons. Ball Stations offensive line is experienced. The team also has experienced running backs, receivers and tight ends. They also have a few experienced offensive linemen. There are two tightends. Carson Steele and Will Jones are experienced linemen, while Jayshon Jackson and Yo'Heinz Tyler are receivers.

Paddock has plenty of weapons on offense, but can they find more consistency than last season?

Tennessee's fast tempo is expected to be a problem for Ball State. The Volunteers averaged 39.3 points and 475.4 yards per game last season. Tennessee is led by dual-threat quarterback Hendon Hooker. Ball Stations has tried to match Tennessee's tempo in practice.

Tennessee likes to play fast and has been successful early in games. Since Heupel took over last season, the Volunteers have scored at least one touchdown in the first quarter of every game. Ball State's best quarter last year was the 1st quarter, but the other three quarters they were outscored 290-206. In lopsided losses against Penn State and Wyoming, Ball state trailed 14-0 after the First Quarter.

Ball State has a lot of new players for Thursday's game against Tennessee. The offense adds Vanderbilt transfer Amir Abdur-Rahman at receiver and freshman tight end Tanner Koziol as starters. Sidney Houston Jr. and Jaquan Amos are starters at outside linebacker and safety, respectively, while Kyle King is listed as a backup at defensive end. Ben VonGunten will handle kicking duties while Australia native Lucas Burrow will be the starting punter.

Ball State has played in front of 100,000 fans three times in its history. Many of the players made the trip to Happy Valley last season to deal with the crowd noise. Neyland Stadium holds more than 100k fans. Ball State pumped in artificial noise in practice to prepare for the communication issues.