Bio Blast: Tennessee Volunteers

Kentucky returns to action on Saturday night following consecutive SEC losses. Tennessee will make the trip up I-75 to Lexington after blowing a double-digit lead at Bryant-Denny Stadium in a 34-20 road loss to Alabama. Both the Wildcats and Volunteers sit at 2-2 in league play. A huge swing game has arrived in the SEC.

Much is on the line for both Mark Stoops and Josh Heupel. The winner will have a chance at making a run at 9-3. The loser could see their season spiral. Saturday’s meeting between the long-time border rivals means a lot for both sides.

As a big football week starts, we’re going to begin Tuesday by taking a closer look at Heupel’s third Tennessee team. The Vols are winning with defense in 2023.

Game-changing front

Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks wants to play an aggressive style of football. In his 4-2-5 scheme, the Vols are going to play downhill. For the second year in a row, the Vols are very good at stopping the run entering Week 9 ranked No. 13 in rushing success rate and yards per rush allowed. However, the pass rush has been juiced up in year three.

The Vols have a top-20 defense through seven games this season due mostly to the havoc being caused in the front seven.

James Pearce might be the best pass rusher in college football. The sophomore leads the team in pressures (33), tackles for loss (10), and sacks (seven). A bendy edge rusher at 242 pounds, Pearce has been unblockable in multiple games this season.

James Pearce’s breakout season rolls on as he continues dominating SEC play, blossoming into one of the nation’s top pass rushers. Pearce was a huge 5-star outlier for @On3Recruits, finishing No. 11 in the 2022 On300 https://t.co/egaygaoyDK pic.twitter.com/XMSajfjCW6 https://t.co/TODfqRmWFb

— Charles Power (@CharlesPower) October 15, 2023

Pearce is also getting some help. Veteran defensive end Tyler Baron ranks second on the team in pressures (23) and sacks (5.5). Aaron Beasley (6.5 non-sack tackles for loss) is very good in run fits. Omari Thomas (6-4, 320) is a load to handle inside.

The Vols have good depth on the line of scrimmage with eight players playing at least 140 snaps through seven games. Tennessee’s defensive front is the best unit on this team and a force to be reckoned with. This group is stopping the run (No. 2 in the SEC in line yards allowed) and getting after the passer (39.2% pressure rate). Only Florida has rushed for more than 150 yards against this defense, and twice in SEC play, the Vols have produced at least 20 pressures.

Tennessee has a defensive front that can dominate a football game.

Ineffective passing game

Tennessee is not elite on the ground, but Josh Heupel’s veer-and-shoot offense is doing some good things in the traditional run game. Jaylen Wright owns an impressive 28.6 percent explosive run rate, and the Vols ran for over 230 yards against a Texas A&M defense that has been good against the run all season. Heupel’s offense is also getting strong running production from the QB position (317 non-sack yards, 8.8 yards per rush). This ground attack must be fit properly, but it’s not getting a ton of help from the passing game.

Joe Milton III enters Week 9 ranked No. 13 in the SEC in explosive pass rate (11.2%). That is ahead of only Auburn’s Payton Thorne. The Tigers own one of the worst passing offenses in college football. That is not good company to keep.

Milton has yet to reach 300 passing yards in a game this season. The super senior has thrown four interceptions in four SEC games and has averaged under eight yards per attempt in 6 of 7 starts. Tennessee found some efficiency (No. 53 in passing success rate) with the throw game, but the big plays that make this offense go have not been there this season. Milton has been a woeful 10 of 40 on passes of 20-plus air yards. Heupel’s bread-and-butter vertical deep choice concepts have failed to work this season.

Tennessee has a passing game problem. This is the main reason why the Vols have not scored more than 20 points yet this season against a top-50 defense. Heupel’s team is having to win in different ways. Finishing drives has been a big problem.

This offense enters Week 9 ranking No. 96 in red zone touchdown percentage (54.55%) and last place in the SEC in points per scoring opportunity (3.64). Last season, the Vols led college football in red zone touchdown percentage (79.10%). Ineffectiveness in the passing game can be blamed for that. Tennessee has become easier to defend without Hendon Hooker taking snaps and a star has not developed at wide receiver. That is causing the Vols to sputter.

Tennessee is not playing like a top-25 offense in 2023. That might be the biggest surprise in the SEC this season.

Road blues

Last season in Week 6, Tennessee went into Tiger Stadium and hammered LSU 40-13. Josh Heupel’s team sent a statement to the rest of college football that the Vols were back. Ranked home wins over Alabama and Kentucky followed in October. Tennessee entered November with a No. 1 ranking.

When everything was coming up all orange is when things began to fall apart. Most notably, Tennessee has had some big struggles in traditional road games.

An offense averaging 44.9 points per game could only muster 13 points in a road loss to Georgia. Two weeks later, South Carolina’s sputtering offense hung 63 points on the Vols. Those issues have leaked into this season following a 56-0 win over Vanderbilt to end the season.

Tennessee suffered a double-digit loss to Florida in Week 3 as a 5.5-point favorite. The Vols then blew a 20-7 lead last week against Alabama by being outscored 27-0 after the halftime break. A strong defense in 2023 has not traveled through two SEC games.

The Vols’ 39.2 percent pressure rate has dropped to 21.2 percent in games against Alabama and Florida. A defense that is only giving up 19.4 points per game has surrendered 63 total points through eight quarters on the road. Tennessee has penalty problem (No. 126 in flags per game) and has now been rattled in four consecutive SEC road trips if you remove what was pretty much a home game at Vanderbilt to end last season.

This program is struggling to play on the road.