Playing Nice: Tennessee

Nick Carner of Rocky Top Talk previews LSU-Tennessee

We don’t normally get to interact with our Tennessee Vols sister site Rocky Top Talk, but I’m very pleased that changes this week.

LSU faces its toughest challenge yet this season and helping preview the No. 8 Volunteers is Nick Carner.

1. It’s been 12 years since Tennessee’s last trip to Baton Rouge. Where were YOU for the 2010 game???

Oh, Goodness. Buddy — I can barely keep up with where I was yesterday, much less where I was more than a decade ago. One thing I DO know: at the end of the game, I was screaming obscenities at the TV and cursing the ever-lasting ineptitude of Derek Dooley.

2. Tennessee’s got maybe the highest of high flying offenses in the country. They’re unbeaten and have a shiny #8 next to their name. How do you try to slow down this Volunteer offense?

Listen — the Vols’ offense is lethal, efficient and fun to watch. That’s a great combination. But the Tennessee hype train has gone off the rails. UT’s two wins that mean anything of substance were against Florida and Pittsburgh. Florida’s ranked 110th of out 131 teams in yards per-play allowed (6.2 ) and is surrendering nearly 30 points a game on defense. Stats sorta get thrown out the window in the Tennessee/ Florida series, but as satisfying as that win was, I’m not sure how much carving up UF’s defense means if one is trying to glean some perspective on UT’s offensive proficiency. Something worth nothing, though, is that the offense went for 350 yards through the air without its best wide receiver, Cedric Tillman.

Pittsburgh is certainly much more stout defensively, and it’s a feat handling the Panthers’ exotic blitz packages. But their DBs were clearly outgunned by the Vols’ WRs, and Pat Narduzzi insisted on leaving them on islands. We see how it worked out for them.

If I’m LSU — I’m playing press coverage on the outside and trying to make Hendon Hooker uncomfortable with pressure. He doesn’t throw many interceptions, but he’s had some fumbling issues in the past. And with Tillman out again this week, the Vols are likely going to lean on Hooker’s running. He likes to deploy a spin move sometimes, attempting to pick up some extra yardage, and occasionally the risk/ reward is heavily tilted to the former.

That’s an opportune time to get a hand in and punch the ball out, If the Tigers can get to Hooker often enough and possibly turn a sack or a tackle into a turnover or scoop-and-score kinda deal, that kinda play could be the difference in the game.

The Vols’ running backs haven’t been great on the ground this year, so try and take away the short passes that Tennessee uses as a stand-in for traditional handoffs out of the backfield.

3. Is Hendon Hooker y’alls Joe Burrow? How legit is his early Heisman chances?

Hooker has been astonishingly good since he became the starter early last season. He’s explosive, efficient and doesn’t turn the ball over. What more can somebody ask of their team’s QB? The wild part is that he’s not even fully hit his stride yet. He’s been noticeably off early in games, which is odd considering the Vols’ were so good in that department last season.

But he’s no Joe Burrow. The chances of Tennessee’s record at the end of the year being good enough for Hooker to be in consideration are, well, unlikely. If the Vols somehow run through this buzzsaw October schedule, then he’ll have the numbers to win it. But the committee will probably decide to give the award to Charles Woodson again, just because.

4. Be honest, do you feel like your chances are improved because kickoff is at 11 A.M.?

Unequivocally yes. And then also, no. Somehow.

I’ve been following Tennessee sports for most of my 33 years, and I’ve been conditioned to the point where I’m always waiting for the other shoe, wherever it is, to drop. And so there’s this itch I can’t scratch telling me LSU fans are going to take offense to Tennessee thinking it got off easy with a day game and show up ready to rain down chaos from the stands. Me wondering if I’m overthinking this is inherent evidence that I am.

5. Is Tennessee’s secondary as much of a weak link as I’ve been hearing? How apt is the Vol defense at containing a mobile quarterback like Jayden Daniels?

I don’t know what you’ve been hearing, but chances are, the Vols’ secondary is worse than the poor reputation that precedes it.

At safety, the Vols have two veterans in Jaylen McCollough and Trevon Flowers who will play every snap of the game at their relative positions. Sure, they’ve been every-game starters over multiple seasons. They know the scheme and know their responsibilities, and they’re well-respected in the locker room as leaders. They really put the “safe,” in “safety,” — but they’ve given up a combined nine catches on 15 targets, notched just one interception and haven’t broken up a pass yet this year.

McCollough plays in the box more and is the better tackler, but his inability to take good angles puts him in poor position to make those tops. He’s also got the second-worst coverage rating via PFF (57.8) of any UT DB that’s played at least 100 snaps in pass coverage. Flowers is slightly better in pass coverage (PFF’s got him graded at 61.1), but he leads the DBs in missed tackles and whiffs on 20 percent of his attempts.

BUT WAIT — IT GET’S WORSE

At corner, Tennessee lost outside CB Alontae Taylor and nickel back Theo Jackson to the NFL draft. And now, the Vols will be without four-year starter Warren Burrell for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury. Burrell wasn’t good, but his replacements have been so bad that the Vol fans who were clamoring for Burrell to get benched aren’t clamoring about anything anymore, because they’ve all got their feet in the mouth. Kamal Hadden is the best of the bunch — and probably the only player who would see significant time on another SEC team — but he’s coming off his worst game of the year against UF.

Tennessee just doesn’t have enough SEC-caliber players in the defensive backfield. It probably doesn’t help that DB coach Willie Martinez isn’t inclined to open up the rotation a bit, even just to see if maybe a younger player might rise to the occasion in a live-game scenario.

As far as containing Jayden Daniels — the Vols have a long, regrettable track record of bungling games against mobile QBs that spans through multiple coaching staffs. This season, the only really tangible evidence we can draw from is the 17 carries, 62 yards and two TDs allowed to Florida’s Anthony Richardson. That’s the most success he’s had running the ball against any team outside of his performance against Utah. But Tennessee’s game plan was to sit back in zone and make him process coverages before throwing the ball. In theory, it worked, because the Vols won, but UT’s back seven’s inability to execute those zone coverages had Florida WRs running wide open all game.

The key to containing Daniels will be the Vols’ defensive line, which has surprisingly been pretty good so far. EDGE/ LEO Byron Young doesn’t have the stats of a guy who some folks were predicting to have a breakout season and possibly earn an early-round NFL selection, but he’s dangerous despite having a bit docile start to the year. Interior defensive lineman Omari Thomas and Tyler Baron, the DE opposite Young, are both playing the best football of their career.

The Vols may try to spy Daniels, but they don’t have a linebacker up to the task. Containing Daniels will likely come down to the Vols getting to him enough without leaving wide open lanes from him to scamper through.

6. Josh Heupel is building a pretty solid recruiting class. Is consistently pulling top-10 classes the expectation at UT? And are you confident Heupel and staff can?

I’d say LSU likely has a similar dynamic in this regard, as Tennessee recruits itself to a degree. In the post Philip Fulmer era, all of the coaches here who have eventually failed miserably recruited reasonably well. They just didn’t develop the talent… or have any real business being football coaches at this level, with Lane Kiffin being the lone outlier.

The Vols don’t have quite the lock on instate prospects that LSU does, but the rabid fanbase and gameday atmosphere are alluring to recruits, and while the young men currently being recruited don’t know much about the Vols’ heyday, there’s a history here that shows this program has been elite and has the resources/ backing to do it again. The explosive offense throwing up national, top-five-level scoring numbers doesn’t hurt, and as long as Heupel keeps that dog hunting, recruiting won’t be an issue.

I don’t think fans expect top-10 classes every season, but they definitely want to be in the upper-half of recruiting rankings among SEC teams. Nobody will ever accuse Tennessee fans of being reasonable, but that seems like a fair expectation.

6. Josh Heupel is building a pretty solid recruiting class. Is consistently pulling top-10 classes the expectation at UT? And are you confident Heupel and staff can?

I’d say LSU likely has a similar dynamic in this regard, as Tennessee recruits itself to a degree. In the post Philip Fulmer era, all of the coaches here who have eventually failed miserably recruited reasonably well. They just didn’t develop the talent… or have any real business being football coaches at this level, with Lane Kiffin being the lone outlier.

The Vols don’t have quite the lock on instate prospects that LSU does, but the rabid fanbase and gameday atmosphere are alluring to recruits, and while the young men currently being recruited don’t know much about the Vols’ heyday, there’s a history here that shows this program has been elite and has the resources/ backing to do it again. The explosive offense throwing up national, top-five-level scoring numbers doesn’t hurt, and as long as Heupel keeps that dog hunting, recruiting won’t be an issue.

I don’t think fans expect top-10 classes every season, but they definitely want to be in the upper-half of recruiting rankings among SEC teams. Nobody will ever accuse Tennessee fans of being reasonable, but that seems like a fair expectation.

7. What’s the ceiling for this Tennessee team? Are they NY6 good? Could they actually win the East?

We’ll find out Saturday. I don’t know if y’all have figured me out yet or not, but I picked this team to go 7-5 this season. I’ve definitively been diagnosed with what Tennessee fans call “Battered Vol Syndrome.”

“I’d consider myself a realist, alright? But in philosophical terms I’m what’s called a pessimist…”

Beating Pitt and Florida were good and important wins for reasons of their own, but there’s a case to be made that Tennessee hasn’t been tested yet, really. Those two wins were games that last year’s team probably would have lost, and so maybe the fellas are figuring out what it takes to pull out those dubs and executing.

Heupel’s decision to keep Cedric Tillman in the game against Akron, when Tennessee was up four TDs and Tillman had already gotten dinged up on a drive or two prior, still absolutely baffles me. Now, the hope is that he’ll be ready for the Alabama game, but until he’s back, the Vols go as Hendon Hooker goes. And Hooker goes like an Aaron Judge home run.

So until an opposing team junks up the game enough to throw a wrench into the Vols’ offensive attack, it’s fair to say that Tennessee can play competitively with anybody. I just have too many question marks about the defense’s ability to guard the pass to fully buy into “win the East,” level hype.

8. Finally if LSU were to pull off the upset, how would a Tiger win over Tennessee Saturday look?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me, a loss against LSU won’t set off any alarm bells. It’s a road game in a traditionally hostile environment against a non-division opponent. The “better,”/ higher-ranked team doesn’t always win those games, and that’s okay.