The keys to Tennessee making the College Football Playoff

The 12-team College Football Playoff has more teams than ever believing that they have a shot at making the postseason and potentially playing for a national championship. Which includes the Tennessee Volunteers this upcoming season.

Many are curious about how many SEC teams will make the expanded College Football Playoff, with most expecting a handful of the top teams from the conference to appear in the postseason. And at the On3 Roundtable, Brent Hubbs from Volquest shared what he believes are the three keys to Tennessee making their first-ever appearance in the CFP.

“Defensively the biggest key, they’ve got to be better on third and long, which is kind of crazy because we just talked about their pass rush,” Hubbs said. “But in the secondary, it’s a completely revamped secondary, five new players that they’re going to have to tighten things up back there, that front’s got to help them. They must do a better job and zone coverage on third long situations than they were a year ago.”

James Pearce Jr. leads Tennessee’s defense as one of the best defensive players in the country after racking up 14.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks last season for the Vols. Leading a front-seven that has a chance to be one of the best in the SEC.

But improved play from the defensive backfield could take Tennessee to another level, and getting behind other team’s secondaries could also do the same according to Hubbs.

“And then I think when you look at them offensively, there’s two things that stand out. One, they’ve got to get back to their explosive ways. They only had nine plays of 50 yards or more last year after having 19 the year before, 13 of those 19 went for touchdowns,” Hubbs said. “Now 19 is a big number. I don’t know that you’ll get back to that record setting pace, but this offense is built on explosive plays. They need more than nine.”

Tennessee fans can close their eyes and picture their 2022 offense throwing countless deep passes to wide receiver Jalin Hyatt for touchdowns. Which the Vols could potentially get back to with quarterback Nico Iamaleava now under center after pivoting to the ground game and leading the SEC in rushing during 2023.

“And then lastly, they’ve got to be much better in the red zone and finishing drives,” Hubbs said. “They were terrific in ’22 and ’23 they scored 25 fewer red zone touchdowns than they did in ’22. They did not finish drives well enough, they settled for too many field goals.”

The keys are laid out for the Volunteers to end the regular season as one of the nation’s top 12 teams, and it will be fascinating to see if they can unlock all of the doors that stand in front of them this upcoming season.

“So if they’re going to be there, I think they have the talent to be there, what’s the key for them?” Hubbs asked. “Those are the two biggest keys on offense for me, and that’s the biggest key on defense for me, if this team is going to make a run in the postseason play.”