Wide Splits, Tennessee Tempo will challenge Kentucky Defense

The Wildcats have their work cut out for them this weekend. Fresh off a loss to Mike Leach’s Mississippi State Air Raid, Brad White and the Kentucky defense will face another unorthodox offense when Josh Heupel implements tempo and wide splits to Lexington.

Heupel developed a reputation for putting points on the scoreboard by spreading teams out and playing fast. The former National Championship-winning quarterback is doing that at Tennessee, but instead of using tempo for an aerial attack, the Vols are spreading out defenses to run.

Wide Splits

Kentucky’s cornerbacks will be on islands for most of the game Saturday night at Kroger Field. The Volunteer wide receivers line up wide, at least to the numbers and sometimes all the way to the sideline. All of that extra room has given the Vols enough room to run for more than 226 yards per game, ranked 13th in the country.

The wide splits will also challenge Brad White. By moving the defensive backs away from the box and the line of scrimmage, it becomes much more difficult for the signal-caller to disguise coverages.

“It can force you to show your hands in terms of the tighter you get, the more you can disguise things. The wider you get, I mean, you are where you are. It pretty clearly defines the box,” White said earlier this week.

“You don’t see those super extended splits that often, so it stresses your alignments from a defensive back’s perspective. You’re just not used to and comfortable being that far from the ball. It presents a unique challenge, something that you don’t see week in and week out.”

Tennessee Tempo

The Vols do not pass it a ton. Hendon Hooker is only throwing the ball about 25 times a game. Even so, the Vols lead the SEC in passing plays of 30 yards or more (16). They generate big plays by creating confusion with a fast, no-huddle offense.

“It has a lot to do with just how quickly they go,” said Mark Stoops. “It’s almost impossible to simulate that for an entire practice. We do for segments we do for periods to get them acclimated, but it’s a different story when they’re running their offense with something that’s new to us, you know, at least for the week, and you know at the tempo with which they go.”

Tennessee is the fastest team in the country, leading the nation in plays per minute. The tempo will catch even the best of the best with their pants down. Alabama had two busted coverages that led to long Tennessee touchdowns. Communication will be key, particularly in the secondary, to containing the high-flying offense.

“It is going to be under as much stress this week as ever,” said Stoops, “just with how fast they go, and how unique they are as far as splits and the pressure that they put on you. So we will be tested this week. We worked extremely hard, you know with crowd noise and trying to communicate and make them communicate defensively quickly.”

Stoops has created one of the best big-play prevention defenses in the country at Kentucky. Tempo will put that to the test Saturday.

“When they get in the open field, they can take it the distance,” said White. “It’s not a five-yard gain that you’re going to get for 12 (yards). If they crease you between the safeties, they can go for 90.”