The Tennessee Vols reached rarified air on Saturday against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns, but they did it in a way that no one hopes to. The Vols’ offense had a challenge coming in against a very good Texas defense, but they ended up making the Longhorns’ group look like the Houston Texans instead, surrendering a ridiculous 10 sacks on the day.

As many pundits have discussed, as well as Josh Heupel himself, some of those sacks were on Brandon for not getting the football out more quickly. But plenty of blame fell on the Vols’ offensive line, as they surrendered pressure on seemingly close to an every down basis. It was hard to watch, frankly.

Tennessee joins rare group in allowing 10+ sacks in a game

Just how rare is allowing 10 sacks in a game? Pretty rare over the last several years. Going back to 2019, only five teams had allowed at least ten sacks in a game:

• Miami vs. Florida, 2019; Miami lost 24-20
• Purdue vs. Penn State, 2019; Purdue lost 35-7
• Ole Miss vs. Baylor, 2021; Ole Miss lost 21-7
• Virginia vs. North Carolina, 2024; Virginia lost 41-14
• Washington vs. Oregon, 2024; Washington lost 49-21

Most of those games, aside from the Hurricanes’ narrow loss to the Gators, were landslide losses as one would expect from such a terrible offensive showing. But that goes to show just how dominant the Vols’ defense was against Arch Manning and the Longhorns offense.

The fate of teams who allow 10+ sacks in a season is a dismal one

So, what ended up being the fate of those five other teams in their respective season? Poor.

Only one of those teams finished the season with a winning record, and it was Ole Miss against Baylor. That particular game happened to be the 2021 season’s Sugar Bowl, played on January 1, 2022, and the Rebels finished that season 10-3.

The path for Tennessee to the postseason, at least for a Tennessee team with a semi-capable offensive line, seems perhaps more navigable than it did before the season for a number of reasons, particularly with road trips to Arkansas, South Carolina, and Texas A&M looking significantly more winnable. So there’s certainly reason for optimism.

But the Vols’ offensive line looked barely the part of even a mediocre (or perhaps sub-mediocre) Power Four group last Saturday, much less like one of a team that’s going to sniff chasing double digit wins and a playoff spot.

Some major soul searching among Glen Elarbee and his players is going to have to take place quickly, starting this weekend against an Auburn team that is good enough defensively to give them major problems if they play like they did last week. Otherwise Tennessee might find themselves etched on a list they really don’t want any part of.