ESPN takes a shot at Tennessee following the Vols’ win over Kentucky and they might end up regretting it
The Tennessee Volunteers were dominant in a win over the Kentucky Wildcats, but ESPN isn’t buying it.
Tennessee made a loud statement on Saturday night in Knoxville with a dominant 34-6 win over Kentucky.
The Vols’ defense completely suffocated the Wildcats all game, and Tennessee’s offense took over in the fourth quarter and closed the door on Kentucky.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly, however, still isn’t ready to go all-in on the Vols.
And that’s because Connelly says Tennessee has only one way to win games.
“Tennessee will quite possibly land in the top 10 in Tuesday night’s CFP rankings, but the Volunteers’ playoff odds are still only decent, not great,” wrote Connelly. “Because they only have about a 1-in-3 chance of winning out, with remaining games at Texas A&M and at home against LSU. (No, A&M isn’t great, but Tennessee was also poor in two SEC road trips.) They’re still limited at QB and only have one real way to win games (rushing and defense). But hey, it’s gotten them this far.”
Connelly doubled down on his take on the College GameDay podcast.
“Tennessee is pretty one-dimensional,” said Connelly. “But they have an identity and they were able to run their way (to a win over Kentucky). 93 passing yards and winning a game by 28 against a top 10 team, that’s hard to do. But apparently it’s not impossible to do.”
Tennessee actually had 149 passing yards in the game, which includes four plays that went for more than 20 yards.
It’s certainly true that Tennessee was one dimensional on offense earlier in the season, but the passing game is coming around over the last few weeks (the stats don’t show it, but if you watch the games, you know). So I don’t think Connelly’s take is fair (but that’s why just looking at stats is a poor way to evaluate football teams).
Tennessee will need the passing game to continue to improve in November as teams key in on stopping the Vols’ rushing attack. The good news, though, is that there’s plenty of evidence that Tennessee’s passing attack is going to hit its stride during the most important part of the season.
