Georgia St. @ Tennessee preview

Tennessee will see a familiar face when it hosts Georgia State in its 2012 home opener on Saturday. The Panthers' Bill Curry will become the first coach to face the Volunteers with four different teams. Curry was 3-0 against Tennessee while with Alabama, 2-4-1 with Georgia Tech and 0-7 with Kentucky. The Volunteers are coming off a 35-21 victory over North Carolina State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff at the Georgia Dome and begin their Southeastern Conference season with No. 23 Florida next week. They are 91-18-5 all-time in home openers, including 17 straight victories. Georgia State, which started its program in 2010 and is playing the first of its two-season transition period into the FBS, lost its opener 33-6 to South Carolina State.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, no TV. LINE: None

ABOUT GEORGIA STATE (0-1): The Panthers will play in the Colonial Athletic Association - an FCS league - this season before joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2013. Georgia State, which is located in Atlanta, features senior running back Donald Russell, who rushed for 120 yards on 12 carries against South Carolina State. Redshirt freshman quarterback Ben McLane was 7-of-15 passing for 54 yards last week and was sacked five times. Junior wide receiver Danny Williams has played in all 23 of Georgia State's games and has at least one reception in each of them. The Panthers are one of nine teams to play home games in an NFL venue. They play at the Georgia Dome, home of the Atlanta Falcons. Curry, 69, will retire at season's end. He was 83-105-4 in 17 seasons at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky before coming to Georgia State, where he is 9-14 in two-plus seasons.

ABOUT TENNESSEE (1-0): The Volunteers raced to a 22-7 lead after one quarter and held off the Wolfpack. Junior wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, a transfer from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, registered a 41-yard touchdown catch and a 67-yard TD run - both in the first quarter - in his first FBS game. It was the defense, though, that raised eyebrows with four interceptions. While Tennessee was 12th in the country in 2011 with 177.8 passing yards allowed per game, it made only nine interceptions, tied for 86th among the 120 FBS schools. Quarterback Tyler Bray was 27-of-41 for 333 yards and two touchdowns against N.C. State and completed passes to 10 different receivers. Sophomore running back Marlin Lane rushed nine times for 75 yards and along with junior Rajion Neal (22-53 against N.C. State) should get the bulk of the carries.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Tennessee is trying for consecutive 2-0 starts for the first time since 2003-04, when it started 4-0 and 3-0, respectively.

2. Georgia State's football program has played an FBS team in each of its first two years of existence. The Panthers lost to Alabama 63-7 in 2010 and to Houston 56-0 in 2011.

3. The Volunteers are five victories away from becoming the eighth team in history with 800 wins. Michigan is first (895), followed by Texas (859), Notre Dame (854), Nebraska (847), Ohio State (826), Oklahoma (822) and Alabama (815).

PREDICTION: Tennessee 52, Georgia State 0