Tennessee opens a season of greater expectations on Thursday night at Neyland Stadium.The ninth-ranked Volunteers draw Appalachian State, the Sun Belt powerhouse which went 11-2 last season and has the talent to make the Tennessee nervous entering the first game on the SEC Network this season (7:30 p.m. ET).Everyones optimistic. For the first time Thursday night, well put our initial football identity on video. Were responsible for what we create so were looking forward to that, Volunteers coach Butch Jones said.The talk of Tennessee this week is not just the opener, but next weeks Battle At Bristol, when the Vols play Virginia Tech at the fabled racetrack with a crowd in excess of 100,000 expected to be on hand.Jones said no one in his locker room is looking ahead. Appalachian State is a run-based offense and led the Sun Belt in red-zone defense. On film, Jones said, they already look like they belong.Appalachian State is coached by Scott Satterfield, who played quarterback at the school and is in the programs third season since jumping from the FCS. He seeks the biggest win the program has had since beating Michigan in Ann Arbor, nine years to the day from Thursdays kickoff. App State is 0-5 against Power Five programs since that landmark win.Every time we play a Power Five school it gets brought up, Satterfield said. I think in a way it kind of hurts us because everybody always references that game to their team.Only 160 miles separate Appalachian States campus from University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The talent gap might not be as great as the uninitiated believe, either.The Mountaineers arrive having won 17 of their last 19 games and 17 starters return from the team that beat Ohio in the 2015 Raycom Media Camellia Bowl. Appalachian State was the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt Conference and boasts both of the leagues preseason players of the year in running back Marcus Cox and linebacker John Law.Cox has three 1,000-yard seasons and has a career average of 113.6 rushing yards per game. At this pace, hell be the all-time leading rusher in Mountaineers history by midseason. At 168.4 yards per game, Tennessees run defense was 65th in the national last season.That porous defense caused Jones to make a change on defense, hiring coordinator Bob Shoop away from Penn State for matchups like this one. Shoop declared this offseason, nobody will run the football on Tennessee.It helps to have a loaded front seven and talent galore at every level of the two-deep.Tennessee will honor former Vols offensive tackle Chad Clifton, who played in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, and late womens basketball coach Pat Summitt. Players will wear a cursive P decal on their helmets this season in memory of Summitt, who died June 28. Wholesale Celtics Jerseys . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Cheap Celtics Jerseys . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. https://www.cheapceltics.com/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Boston Celtics Gear .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Celtics Jerseys 2020 . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. One of the most anticipated matchups of the MLS season takes place Saturday at Yankee Stadium, where New York City FC puts a five-match home streak on the line against U.S. Open Cut titlist FC Dallas.FC Dallas enters the match atop the Western Conference with a 15-6-8 record and plus-8 goal difference ahead of second-place Los Angeles (11-14-4).New York City FC is in third in the Eastern Conference at 12-8-9. It is tied on points with the second-place New York Red Bulls with 44 but its goal differential at minus-1 is well behind the Red Bulls (plus-12).Leading the Eastern Conference is Toronto FC, which is 13-7-8 with 46 points and also a plus-12 goal differential.New York City FC, coached by Patrick Vieira, still has an opportunity to finish at the top of the standings, which would qualify it for next seasons CONCACAF Champions League. Vieiras team has won five straight in front of its home fans and also has performed well the whole season against the Wests best teams.NYCFC dominated the Colorado Rapids 5-1 and achieved an impressive sweep of LA Galaxy. FC Dallas presents the greatest challenge, however, with Oscar Parejas team featuring playmaker Mauro Diaz and the center back pairing of Walker Zimmerman and Matt Hedges.FC Dallas is playing on only thrree days rest after defeating the New England Revolution on Tuesday night to capture the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.ddddddddddddS. Open Cup. Parejas team also leads the MLS Supporters Shield award chase with the leagues best regular-season record. Pareja hopes his team does not overexert itself with the multiple competitions.It has been tough to face all three competitions, and not just three competitions, but four competitions as we have five players in international duty, Pareja said. They are playing the Open Cup. They are playing CONCACAF (Champions League). They play in the league. They play national team qualifications. We need to be smart with them. Theres not too much you can do when you have to face so many competitions.New York City FC is coming off a 3-1 loss at New England last Saturday, a setback that knocked it from the top spot of the Eastern Conference.We just werent good enough to get what we wanted out of the match, said fullback RJ Allen. Overall we just need to be better. I think we need to learn from this. ... We have two home games coming up, two of the most important games of the year, and six points is a must. ' ' '