Tennesee v. Austin Peay

Expectations bring disappointment. This is one of the tenants of Vic Ketchman, a sports writer and, dare I say, philosopher of sorts. His stoic approach to football was to watch, and enjoy the ballet of conflict unfolding before you. You can’t affect the game, so merely marvel at the display of athleticism before you.

It is my opinion Rocky Top nation could use his advice these days, myself included. I find myself disappointed by the lack of fireworks from the Milton led passing game. I am startled at the discouraging third down conversion rate. I am flummoxed at the lack of explosive plays, while upset at those allowed. Back-to-back weeks, Tennessee’s defense has appeared to go to sleep on two drives, one of which ends in a frustrating allowed touchdown, and the other where crisis is barely averted with a failure from the opposing offense. Back-to-back weeks, Milton and his receivers appear out of synch, with a yards-per-attempt figure under seven, and multiple chances left on the field.

But, to be fair, a win is a win. UT might have dropped in the AP ranks, but they, unlike Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, LSU, and Texas A&M, are undefeated. The Vols have so very obviously played poorly with their passing game, yet have still had a handful of passing scores and no interceptions, and have only surrendered a pair of sacks. The run game has been borderline dominant, with Jalen Wright putting up another 100 yard rushing day, Jabari Small gaining 95 on Saturday, and the team collecting the 4th most rushing yards per game in the nation. These fairly gaudy numbers come despite losing the time of possession battle in both games, by nearly 20 minutes against Austin Peay.

And the defense has, mostly, been lights out. The team has collected 11 sacks and a mind boggling 25 tackles for loss. Despite two touchdown drives allowed, they have buttoned down opponents for the duration of any normal game. But, as stated above, the defense has been on the field a lot, nearly 75 minutes in two games. It is little wonder the opposing offense gets a drive or two a game where they eventually find success.

Individually, the offense has been largely buoyed by Jaylen Wright’s consistency. Jabari Small has been less consistent, but can still pop off a good run. Joe Milton has still not thrown an interception despite his erratic passing game. The receivers have also dropped a few, been missed deep, and fumbled. The defense was without transfer linebacker Pili against Austin Peay, and both sides of the ball were hit with some unfortunate calls this second game of the season.

Austin Peay was intended to be a cupcake to allowed additional prep time for Florida, but the Governors must not have gotten that memo, and played with borderline recklessness. Their QB ran for a 45 yarder, despite ending the day with only 36 yards on 21 carries. The defense also punched up forcing a few stops in the red zone, and even punching out, and recovering, the ball. Credit where it is due, Austin Peay and Virginia both gave UT  some hits and lumps.

For all the gloom and shortcomings I have seen with this team so far through two games, it gives me encouragement. When I texted a buddy of mine how ugly week one’s game was, he was pleasantly shocked to find a 30+ point win as the outcome. And has seemingly distracted as the Vols seemed week two, they still came out with a greater than two touchdown advantage, even with some blown plays gifting Austin Peay a late touchdown. UT has played nowhere near the level they can on either side of the ball, have not sustained nearly enough drives, and have still produced a top 5 running team and and average margin of victory of nearly 25 points per game. And that should scare the crap out of Florida.