10 Things I think I think -- Tennessee-Pitt edition

Tennessee travels to the Steel City to take on Pitt in one of the marquee match-up’s of the weekend in college football. We empty the notebook and look at keys in the Vols matchup with the Panthers in our weekly installment of 10 Things I Think I Think. 

1. Can anyone get home?

I have been wondering about the pass rush all week. Tennessee didn’t have a quarterback sack in their season opener against Ball State. The Vol coaching staff hasn’t seemed overly worried about that stat this week. 

“For the most part, we showed some flashes in terms of what we want to be and what we’re capable of being,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said of his defensive front. “Those guys (Ball State) did a good of getting rid of the ball quickly, but when (the quarterback) held it, I thought we applied some pressure. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. But I thought for the most part, those guys did a good job of executing what we asked them to execute. To answer your question, I felt fine coming out of the game in terms of what was out there and the opportunities we had.” 

The defensive front should get more opportunities on Saturday. Quarterback Kedon Slovis averaged nearly 13 yards a completion throwing for over 300 yards on just 16 connections in week one. West Virginia sacked Slovis 5 times last week. So the opportunity appears to be there. The question is can this defensive front do what has been talked about all off-season and that’s get to the quarterback without blitzing. 

2. Defend the middle

 I have harped on it all week, but Pitt’s play action passing game is always about working the middle of the field. A year ago, Kenny Pickett lit up the Vols in between the numbers. Pickett was 18 of 22 for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns in the middle of the field. Last week against West Virginia, Slovis was 10 of 13 in the middle of the field. In other words the ball is coming inside the numbers a good bit on Saturday. 

Tennessee’s zone drops must be good between the linebackers and the safeties. If the Vols are in man, then pressure needs to get home making the middle of the field easier to defend. 

“It’s difficult to defend depending on the structure of what you’re playing and managing your scheme against what you’re seeing during the course of a football game,” Josh Heupel said of the middle of the field. “Those two guys (Jaylen McCollough and Trevon Flowers) are probably some of the more mature guys inside of our program, when you talk about the two starting safeties. We will rotate at those positions, it won’t be 50-50, but they’ll see the bulk of the work.” 

3. Avoid third and long

Pittsburgh’s defensive minded head coach Pat Narduzzi loves third and long situations because it allows him to be unorthodox in how he tries to attack the quarterback. A year ago, Pitt recorded five sacks against the Vols making a living in 3rd and obvious passing situations. 

Tennessee needs to avoid those situations this year, they need to win on first and second down to keep Pitt from getting so exotic in their pass rush scheme. Veteran Jerome Carvin knows it’s going to be a big challenge, but it’s one he is definitely looking forward to dealing with. 

“They get after you, definitely in the pass (game),” Carvin said. Run’ game, they are a stout group. Like I said earlier, linebackers like to fit up. Man, they are coached really well. We have to be on our P’s and Q’s. We have to be able to communicate well with each other up front, as well as with the tight ends and (running) backs, whether that’s in pass protection, putting hats on hats in the run game, allowing them to pick up lengths so running backs can hit it. Huge week, tough week for us.

4. Tote the rock

 The secret sauce in Josh Heupel’s offense is the run game. In 14 games as head coach, Heupel’s offense has generated more than 200 yards on the ground 7 times. A year ago, the Vols had to turn to freshman Jaylen Wright against Pitt after Jabari Small got hurt and the run game suffered as they rushed for just 136 yards on 33 carries. 

Last week, West Virginia found success running the football. The Mountaineers rushed for 190 yards on 33 carries. Pitt gave up a surprising 5.8 yards a carry in the win. 

If the Vols’ running game can generate that kind of success then it could be a big day for Heupel’s offense. 

5. Defend the swing

One of the things that Slovis did a solid job of in the win over West Virginia was hitting his check down. Pitt’s tailbacks had three catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. We saw Oregon find success with the backs in the passing game against Georgia in week one. In fact that was their only real success. It’s not a mainstay of Pitt’s offense by any means, but Tennessee’s defenders can’t fall asleep with the tailbacks in the passing game. A year ago, Isreal Abanikanda had four catches for 18 yards and Vincent Davis had three for 13 yards as Tennessee did a nice job not letting the running back get loose. 

6. Finish in the red zone 

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You could say this for every game and in every version of 10 Things I think, but it’s a key for Hendon Hooker and the Vol offense if they are going to win Saturday. Tennessee must finish with touchdowns not field goals. A year ago the Vols were 5 of 6 in the redzone against Pittsburgh, but two of those trips ended in field goals instead of touchdowns, So they were just 3-of-6 when it came to scoring touchdowns. The Vols need seven in their redzone trips, not three. Against Ball State, Tennessee was 7-for-7 with six touchdowns. I believe Pittsburgh is going to score some points Saturday afternoon which is why Josh Heupel’s offense must finish with touchdowns when they’re in striking distance and not leave points on the field like they did a year ago. 

7. Let me see some Hadden

Pittsburgh wants to run the football, but they struggled to do so against West Virginia. They didn’t run it very well a year ago against Tim Banks’ defense. So the result is that the ball is going to be in the air on Saturday and the Panthers are going to take their downfield chances. And for Pitt (and frankly everyone Tennessee plays right now) that means the ball is coming Warren Burrell’s way. Teams are going to attack Burrell and they are going to attack Christian Charles who is making only his second career start at corner. That’s why I think it’s important to get Kamal Hadden more than 16 snaps this week.

Hadden is coming off a pre-season injury but he was Tennessee’s most productive corner in week one giving up just one completion on four balls thrown his way. He had two tackles and an interception. It’s going to take more than just two corners in this game. I’m not suggesting ‘mothballing’ Charles or Burrell. Clearly Tim Banks likes what he saw from them. 

“With Charles, you could see that was his first time out on an island. Once he started to settle down within the game, I thought he started to play better. He’s a tremendous athlete as we’ve already documented, but playing corner is new for him. He’s getting better. By the end of the game, I thought he was really comfortable with what we were asking him to do. It was a little bit uneventful for Burrell. He did exactly what he needed to do. (Ball State) only challenged him a few times, and he was up for the challenge most of those reps. We feel like Burrell had a really good camp, we thought he did his job Thursday night, and he’ll obviously have even bigger shoes to fill, or to play at, going into this next venue. I know he’s excited about the challenge, and so are we.” 

But they also liked what they saw from the longer, extremely athletic Hadden which is why he should play more this week. 

“Performed really well the other night,” Heupel said. “Obviously, everybody saw the pick, but I thought he did the things that we were asking him to in some trap corner situations, coming up and being physical. A lot of positives.”

8. Get off the field

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A match up of two ranked teams on the road is a huge opportunity for the Vols to show where they are in year two under Josh Heupel. If they are going to have the result they want, it’s not just about trying to outscore Pitt in a track meet. Tennessee’s defense has to show growth and the biggest key to their growth from last year to this year is on third down. Pitt was 10 of 22 on third and fourth downs a year ago which is not a terrible number, but the Panthers hit a couple of key plays where the Vol defense was its own worst enemy. Last year, they gave up a touchdown on 3rd and 10. They gave up a 4th and 2 scramble for a first down. Tennessee must do a better job than they did a year ago against the Panthers and off the field when they have the chance.

One other area they must do a better job is in penalties. In this game last year Tennessee was flagged 13 times for 134 yards. Vols must play with better discipline.

9. SEC thoughts

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Is it just me or is Brian Kelly at LSU going to be some must see TV? Kelly has always been brash and unafraid to offer his opinions on anything including his own players. Apparently, LSU forgot the importance of special teams in week one and there appears to be some players not happy with everything in the locker room. Now we know social media stuff can be overblown. Here’s what is interesting with LSU. They could very easily win their next four and could be 4-1 when the Vols go to Baton Rouge. 

Florida certainly got the attention of the nation on Saturday as they beat Utah at home. Now, I’m not a huge believer in pre-season polls so just how good is Utah? Who knows? But for Billy Napier that’s a big win for him to kick off his tenure in Gainesville. Anthony Richardson certainly showed his ability and he can be a handful. No one should have thought that the Gators were going to be bad. They have a thin roster, but they have talent and you knew they were going to play hard for a new coach after absolutely laying down on Dan Mullen last year. 

Elsewhere, Kentucky has some challenges offensively. Their offensive line had some struggles and they are depleted at running back which is not a great set up to go to Gainesville this weekend. 

Georgia and Alabama are good. Enough said. I don’t think Oregon is very good, but there’s no big drop off with the Dawgs after their run a year ago. 

After an ugly win in week one, Shane Beamer’s team travels to Arkansas in a key early season league game for both teams. The question is, can the Gamecocks match the physicality of Arkansas who had a nice win over Cincinnati in their opener?

The SEC went 13-1 in week one and announced they are still the SEC. Alabama should showcase that this weekend at Texas. We’ll also see what Missouri does with a test at Kansas State and Mississippi State travels to Arizona in a strange match up of teams in a PAC-12 vs. SEC tilt.

Then of course Tennessee has their opportunity at Pittsburgh. 

But deep down we are all watching to see if there’s any more drama this week in Baton Rouge as the Tigers host Southern in what should be an easy win. 

10. Do you remember the time

Tennessee has had no success against Pitt as they look for their first program win in four tries. 

However, September 10th has been good for Tennessee in recent years. In 1988 they did lose to Duke and Steve Spurrier, but the Vols beat Virginia Tech in the Battle at Bristol on this date. Derek Dooley beat Butch Jones and Cincinnati in the game that Jones said he decided he wanted the Tennessee job if it ever came open. 

Then there’s my favorite win on Sept. 10th for the Big Orange and that’s the 1994 41-23 win over #23 Georgia between the hedges. 

It’s the Todd Helton game, where he allegedly told David Cutcliffe during game week that he couldn’t handle the offense because he hadn’t been paying attention since he wasn’t going to play with starter Jerry Colquitt and two freshmen in the qb room in Peyton Manning and Brandon Stewart. But Helton did what he always did as a player, he delivered doing just enough with this arm and managing the game.

But the story of this game was James ‘Little Man’ Stewart and the offensive line as they ran all over Georgia exasperating the late Larry Munson — “we can’t tackle this guy”