VSiN By The Books | September 11, 2026 | Hour 3

SPEAKER_2 (0:09)

This is VSiN By The Books on VSiN, The Sports Betting Network.

Dave Ross (0:21)

Top of the hour, it is VSiN By The Books, Dave Ross right here at the Men Gaming Hall, Franklin, Kentucky. There's our closer Jensen Lewis back home in Cleveland, Ohio. What a treat to kick off this final hour in a big Football Friday show with the one and only Stormy Buonantony. She is the co-host of Money Moves with JVT, 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern right here in the network. And Jensen, when she's not a superstar for us, she does a great job over there at the Four Letter Network with ESPN, traveling this great country of ours, covering college football. She's in the ATL for Tennessee in Georgia Tech ESPN, 7 p.m. tomorrow night. Stormy, how do you do it?

How do you do all this? Do your job so perfectly for us, for ESPN. And it looks like you never miss a night of sleep. I don't know how you do it.

Stormy Buonantony (1:04)

You're very sweet. And I don't compliment my co-host Jonathan Vontobo very much, but I'll give him his flowers here. He is awesome to lean on, especially on the Sunday shows, when oftentimes I have to do the really early morning flight on a Sunday morning to get back for our NFL countdown to kickoff show.

He is always there and prepared. When I'm out of it, he is like, hey, if you need to run up and get more espresso, go get it. He's awesome. So we're a team for sure. But it's fun. This is the best time of year, in my opinion, this month in particular, because we have College Football and the NFL back. The end of September for Major League Baseball is as good as it gets leading up to the postseason. You have the NHL starting at the end of the month, opening night was going to be awesome. So it's such a fun month to do what we do. Right? So I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Jensen Lewis (1:56)

Totally agree. I think what you will trade though are the conditions from Tuscaloosa just a week ago to, I would say a cool front of 84 degrees there in Hotlanta.

That was surreal to kind of watch, but the game you'll be covering, the great Boba shoes and Lewis Riddick. We'll catch you guys in prime time at seven o'clock Eastern on Saturday night, Tennessee.

I would say looked a little pedestrian in week one, Georgia Tech, an interesting group as well. Stormy, I gotta be honest. I would lean the over here with both these offenses. We know Josh Hypo wants to be up tempo. One of the fastest offenses tempo wise. I don't think they hit on all cylinders last week. What do you make of this matchup and your handicap moving forward?

Stormy Buonantony (2:38)

Well, speaking of the weather, I am curious if weather's gonna come into play here because it has changed every time I have looked at it, where the rain and the forecast is gonna be throughout the course of the day.

Yesterday when I was looking at it, it said it was gonna be in that first hour of the game. This morning I go check it. It should be done before we get going. So whether or not we have rain actually during the game will be an interesting thing here.

It's interesting you said you thought Tennessee looked pedestrian against Furman. In my opinion, they just did what they needed to do, right? And they stayed up on the Paladins. They didn't have to go above and beyond because I don't necessarily think they needed to. And it's a true freshman quarterback and phase on Brandon trying to get his feet under him for the first time. And I thought he was really good. Their offensive line I think is going to be really good and they'll have their starting center back. He was suspended for the first game for an off the field issue.

But he is back now, as is Arion Carter, by the way, who we all remember the big story of the off season with him. The NCAA suspends him for three games. It ends up getting appealed down to two for the $427 flight that an agent got him when he entered the pre-draft process ends up coming back to college. So two key pieces, two starters for Tennessee that they didn't have against Furman, that they're going to have against Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech now, I'm going to have my meetings with them in about an hour. We're going to head over and go to their walkthrough and talk to some players and coaches. I am very curious to speak with Brent Key about the way they were pushed around in the trenches. He's a former offensive lineman. He preaches and takes a lot of pride in physicality for his teams. And they got got badly by a Colorado team that I do not think is nearly as good as Tennessee. They were outgained on the ground 183 to 51 They averaged 0.7 yards per carry for the game. Half of their rushes were for zero or negative yards. They also committed nine penalties. They also had three fumbles. There were a lot of things that they need to get cleaned up. I think they will. But against a team that is now better than the Colorado one they faced in week one would be a concern for me.