The Tennessee Vols' defense was heavily criticized this season despite finishing as the No. 35 scoring defense in the nation.

Most of the criticism stems from the Vols' loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in November.

Tennessee gave up 63 points to South Carolina — by far the Vols' worst defensive performance of the season.

The performance against South Carolina was undoubtedly bad. But what people seem to ignore is that it was Tennessee's only bad defensive game of the year (I don't put the 52-49 win over Alabama in that same category — the points explosion in that game was the result of two quarterbacks who were absolutely on fire that day).

Outside of that South Carolina game, the Vols' defense gave up just 19.4 points per game this season. That would've been their best scoring defense average since 2008.

Tennessee's defense showed up in a big way in other key games this season. The Vols' defense essentially won the game against Pittsburgh early in the season. They also came up big against LSU, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Clemson. In some other games, they weren't perfect — like the Florida and Missouri games — but they were more than good enough.

Part of the reason the Vols' defense improved this season (they went from allowing 29 points per game in 2021 to 22 points per game in 2022) is because of their pride.

Tennessee's defenders heard all the outside noise. They heard how they were blamed for the loss to South Carolina. And they wanted to change that perception in the Orange Bowl against Clemson.

“I felt like we had a point to prove and we proved it,” said Vols edge rusher Byron Young to The Athletic's David Ubben after the Orange Bowl. “Every game, nothing was good enough. Every game we won, still the defense. We lost the game? Defense.”

There was a perception after the South Carolina loss that Tennessee's defense didn't care. Some folks suggested that the proper effort wasn't there.

Whatever happened that night in Columbia was an outlier. That's not who the Tennessee defense was this season. And it's not how they should be defined.

That's why Young, a player who is on his way to the NFL after beating Clemson, so badly wanted to prove a point in the Clemson game.

And they by allowing just 14 points and one touchdown.

The Vols' defense is only going to get better from here. All of the attention is on the offense, but the defense is trending in the right direction, too.

Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK