What Tennessee's defense must do to contend for a spot in the College Football Playoff

Success in college football is contingent on many things cohesively working together simultaneously. For much of the 2022 season, the Tennessee Volunteers had that level of cohesiveness on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, the Volunteers could have done much better, especially when it came to defending in the secondary. And if Tennessee is to improve on the results of last year and earn a place in the 2023 College Football Playoff, their secondary needs to step up, according to On3’s J.D. PicKell.

“The second hinge point for me, Tennessee’s defense has got to get just a little bit better,” said PicKell. And I’ve said this a couple of times. I don’t need the 85 Bears from Tennessee. I don’t need them to hold teams to like 24 points a game. I don’t need that. But I do need this Tennessee secondary to not be the Achilles heel. I just need a little bit more from that secondary because last year, almost 300 passing yards a game allowed; that’s not gonna cut it. Especially not in the SEC when you’re playing against all these quarterbacks. So, I need Tennessee to be improved in the secondary.”

Tennessee’s defensive struggles were masked by the supremacy they showcased on the offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, in arguably the Volunteers most critical game of the season, against South Carolina, the secondary laid an enormous egg. The Tennessee defense made the Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler look like a Heisman Trophy candidate allowing him to complete 30 of his 37 pass attempts for 438 yards, six touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Rattler finished the game with a 234.0 rating as South Carolina went on to win 63-38, essentially ending Tennessee’s chances at earning a College Football Playoff bid.

PicKell’s first point, which he highlighted earlier in the segment, was quarterback Joe Milton has to do his best to fill the hole left by star quarterback Hendon Hooker. Hooker is now in the NFL, and Milton will need to play like a high-level quarterback in order to keep Tennessee at the top of the SEC and college football.

“Joe Milton is going to have Hendon Hooker-sized shoes to fill in terms of production, in terms of leading this offense,” says PicKell. “And this offense, now there’s a lot made about how quarterback-friendly it is. Maybe that’s true. But there’s also a lot required of the quarterback.”

For any college football program to climb to the top of the sport, several things have to go right, and Tennessee is no exception. However, unlike other programs across the nation, the Volunteers have all the pieces in play for a legitimate run at the national championship. And if they can get the secondary to play more efficiently in 2023, along with Milton having a successful season, there’s no reason why the Volunteers would not be one of the four teams in this year’s College Football Playoff.