Tennessee Vols: Don't expect Josh Heupel to throw shade at UT's defense anytime soon
The Tennessee Vols' defense has played well at times this season, but it hasn't played well enough to beat top-tier teams like Ole Miss and Georgia. Tennessee is allowing 29.5 points per game this season (No. 88 in the nation). That's a slight improvement over the defense from 2020 (when Tennessee allowed 30.1 points per […]
The Tennessee Vols' defense has played well at times this season, but it hasn't played well enough to beat top-tier teams like Ole Miss and Georgia.
Tennessee is allowing 29.5 points per game this season (No. 88 in the nation). That's a slight improvement over the defense from 2020 (when Tennessee allowed 30.1 points per game), but it's still nowhere close to where the Vols want to be.
If Tennessee's defense was playing better this season, UT would likely be entering the final two weeks of the season with a 6-4 or 7-3 record (instead of 5-5, which is still impressive in Josh Heupel's first season leading the program).
The Vols' offense has done its part. Tennessee is averaging 36.1 points per game (No. 17 this season), which is an incredible improvement from the Jeremy Pruitt era when the offense could best be described as sluggish.
It would be easy for Heupel to throw some shade at the defensive side of the ball. But that's not going to happen. Heupel made it clear on Saturday night after the Vols' 41-17 loss to Georgia that the locker room and coaching staff absolutely won't be divided.
"It’s all of us together," said Heupel when asked about Tennessee's defense. "I said that in the locker room. The coaches and the players, there will never be a divide.”
One of the reasons the Vols didn't find more success during the Pruitt era was because the coaching staff wasn't on the same page. There were coaches who didn't along. There was a lack of cohesiveness among assistants.
That's clearly not the case with Tennessee's staff under Heupel.
Everyone is moving in the same direction. They win together and they fail together. That's the sign of a great culture inside of UT's facilities.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
