A significant issue has disappeared today, and Tennessee faces a grave problem ahead of time—why now?
The Hawkeyes will take on Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024, in Orlando, Florida inside Camping World Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on ABC.
This will be the fourth Tennessee-Iowa meeting and the third in a bowl game – the two sides split the previous postseason meetings.
The exception was the 1987 season opener, a thrilling 23-22 victory for the Vols in the Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. in a top-20 matchup.
Iowa comes into the Citrus Bowl with a 10-3 record, fresh off a 26-0 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship on Saturday night.
The Volunteers are 8-4 on the year, three of the four losses came on the road to Florida, Alabama, and Missouri. The lone loss was at home to Georgia a few weeks ago, 38-7.
Tennessee is led by third-year head coach Josh Heupel, who is 26-12 during his time in Knoxville. The Volunteers finished third in the SEC East with a 4-4 conference record behind Georgia and Missouri.
Despite some inconsistency at the start of the year, Milton has turned things around and has put together a solid season statistically for the Volunteers.
In 12 games this fall, Milton has completed 229-of-354 passes for 2.813 yards, 20 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He can also make plays with his feet as he has seven rushing touchdowns on the year.
Milton is third in the SEC this year in completion percentage and is coming off his best performance of the season against Vanderbilt where he threw for 383 yards and four touchdowns in the senior day victory over the Commodores.
The top targets for Milton through the air have been wide receiver Squirrel White and Ramel Keyton. White is the leading receiver with 64 receptions, 764 yards, and two touchdowns, but what’s most notable about Milton is that he has 10 targets that have 13 receptions or more on the year. That said, Tennessee has a lot of weapons that can make plays.
However, one of the big question marks is will Milton play?
Pro Football Focus projects Milton as the No. 161 overall prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. Sure, he’s not a top name in the draft, but he still has value given his strong arm and how he produced this fall for the Volunteers.
Milton is also from Orlando, so that could be a large incentive to get him to play in the Citrus
