The first score prediction is in for Tennessee's Week 8 trip to South Carolina

The Week 8 buildup is officially underway: an initial score prediction has been published for Tennessee's game at South Carolina, the first formal projection for Saturday's matchup in Columbia.

The game being forecast is a fascinating one. Tennessee arrives off the 26-10 win over Alabama that pushed the Vols into the playoff chase, while South Carolina comes in rested off a bye week and playing its best football of the season, most recently a dominant showing against Florida. A prediction this early in the week is really an argument about which of those trends travels.

The projected number will be revisited all week as the matchup gets picked apart. The only score Tennessee cares about gets written on Saturday, with kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.