Tennessee 45–24 Georgia Tech: AI predicted 31–18 ✓

The Synthesis: Tennessee Wins, But This Is Not the Furman Game

All five models land on the same winner — Tennessee, at a consensus 77% — and the agreement is genuinely convergent rather than herd-driven: each expert independently identified the same structural reasons the Vols win (SEC trench talent, superior depth, a Georgia Tech offense that managed 13 points and ~70 non-sack rushing yards at home against Colorado) while also independently flagging the same reasons the margin stays modest. That dual convergence is the strongest signal in the panel.

Where the experts agree

• Tennessee's front seven is the matchup that decides this. Georgia Tech's offensive line — which allowed just nine sacks all of last season — gave up three in one game to Colorado, and the Jackets' run game evaporated after Justice Haynes' opening series. Arion Carter's return from suspension makes a bad matchup worse for a pocket-bound Alberto Mendoza.
• The Furman blowout is the least predictive data point in the sport. A 56-9 win over an FCS opponent, inflated by two 50-plus-yard touchdowns and a garbage-time 73-yard run, cannot be projected onto a road night game against a Power-4 defense. Every model discounted it; the market has not fully.
• Faizon Brandon's first true road start adds real variance. Five touchdowns against Furman is encouraging, but a true freshman in a sold-out hostile environment — with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast in Atlanta (~88% daytime rain probability, storms potentially carrying into the evening) — is a known efficiency-dropper, particularly for a tempo/vertical-spacing scheme that is among the most weather-sensitive in college football.

Where they disagree, and how I resolved it

The main split is between the models projecting a ~14-point margin (Grok, GPT, Kimi: 31-17, 31-17, 34-20) and the possession-compression argument from GLM and Claude that the game tightens further. GLM's case — Brent Key's ball-control offense shortens games, and one week is not enough to install option/scheme-specific defense — is analytically sound but slightly overstated here: Georgia Tech's Week 1 offensive performance suggests they may not be able to execute the possession-control plan, capping the upside of that compression. Meanwhile Claude's weather angle is the most decisive new information: rain suppresses Heupel's explosive passing, forces more DeSean Bishop and downhill runs, and historically pushes totals under. I resolve the split toward a two-score Tennessee win in the 14-point range, played in the 40s-to-low-50s total range — comfortably under the 55.5 line.