Tennessee Football will likely be missing starting left tackle Lance Heard for Saturday night’s game against Kent State. Sources told Volquest’s Austin Price that the LSU transfer is out due to an ankle issue. 

No. 7 Tennessee (2-0) and Kent State (0-2) are scheduled for a 7:45 Eastern Time start on SEC Network.

Heard has started the first two games of the season, the 69-3 win over Chattanooga two weeks ago and the 51-10 win over North Carolina State last week in Charlotte. Tennessee’s other starters on the offensive line have been Cooper Mays at center, Andrej Karic at left guard, Javontez Spraggins at right guard and John Campbell at right tackle.

No. 7 Tennessee vs. Kent State: How To Watch

Kickoff Time: Saturday, 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time

TV: SEC Network

Streaming: ESPN App

Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee. 

Location: Neyland Stadium (101,915)

The Line: Tennessee -49.5

A Closer Look: Kent State Golden Flashes

Kent State lost 23-17 to St. Francis (PA) last week at home. The Red Flash, an FCS program in the Northeast Conference, led 20-7 late in the first half and ended the game with 402 total yards, running for 207 and passing for 195. St. Francis was a 19.5-point underdog before winning at Kent State. 

Kent State went just 2-for-14 on third down and had just 280 total yards in the loss. The Golden Flashes dropped to 0-2 after losing 55-24 at Pitt last week. 

Last season Kent State finished 1-11, with the lone win coming against Central Connecticut State, 38-10 last September against another FCS program from the Northeast Conference. 

Kent State ranked No. 134 in ESPN’s Football Power Index

Kent State is ranked dead last at No. 134 in ESPN’s Football Power Index. The FPI has a projected win-loss record of 1.6-10.4 for the Golden Flashes, with just an 0.4% chance to win six games this season. 

In 2022 Kent State finished 5-7, with wins over Ohio, Akron, Bowling Green and Buffalo over the final eight games of the season.

Former Kent State head coach Sean Lewis went 24-31 in five seasons with the Golden Flashes, including seven-win seasons in 2019 and 2021, before leaving in 2022 to join Deion Sanders as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He left after one season at Colorado to become the new head coach at San Diego State. 

Kent State hired head coach Kenni Burns away from Minnesota, where he coached running backs and was associate head coach.  

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