‘It doesn’t win championships, it doesn’t beat quality opponents’ – College football analyst goes scorched earth on the Tennessee Vols
Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt went scorched earth on the Tennessee Vols’ offense.
Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt hasn’t been shy about criticizing the Tennessee Vols, so it’s not a surprise that he took aim at UT’s offense this week.
Klatt appeared on The Next Round earlier this week and he didn’t hold back while offering his critiques of Tennessee’s offense following the Vols’ loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.
“Tennessee’s defense is not very good at all,” said Klatt. “But why is Tennessee’s defense not very good? Well, because they’re exposed. Why are they exposed? Because their offense doesn’t protect them. Their offense continues to go on this high tempo pace, and they’re moving the ball up and down the field in the first two quarters. And then they make a mistake — their offensive tackle, he whiffs on the defensive end. It’s a strip sack. All of a sudden, OU is tied in the football game, even though their offense hasn’t done anything. And then everything that was working for Tennessee early in the game — namely inside breaking routes, deep ins, intermediate routes over the middle of the field — all of a sudden vanishes. And I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ And then it dawns on me — well, this is the offense. It’s a deep choice offense, which means that the wide receivers have a choice of where they’re going to go.
“So all of a sudden they start throwing all these go balls and fade balls. And I’m like, ‘Well, these suck. What are they doing? Why aren’t they attacking the structure of the defense like they did in the first quarter?’ The play caller can’t do that because everything’s a choice route from the wide receivers. You’re leaving it up to the 18 to 22 year olds. Their run game is non existent. It’s a token hand off here or there. And they run so many plays that they don’t protect the defense. How about this for a stat? If you look at Ohio State’s defense, they are protected by their offense. Ohio State could score 60 points if they wanted to. Everybody knows it. That’s probably the best passing game in the country when they want to do it. But they don’t. Why? Because right now, their defense is only seeing 57 snaps per game. Meanwhile, Tennessee’s defense has seen 73 snaps per game. Average that out over a 12 game period. Guess what? It is 195 more snaps that Tennessee’s defense is going to see versus Ohio State’s defense.”
“Why? Because they (Tennessee) run an old Big 12 Art Briles style of offense that doesn’t compete at the top level,” continued Klatt. “It doesn’t win championships, it doesn’t beat quality opponents…Tennessee refuses to allow their team to work as a complementary unit. They just want to go score 50 points and everything else be damned, and you get beat because of it.”
Is Joel Klatt right about the Tennessee Vols’ offense?
I think Klatt makes some fair points — specifically about the number of plays Tennessee defends per game (which is something that Kentucky’s offensive coordinator actually mentioned last month before playing the Vols). But for the most part, Klatt’s take feels lazy.
Throwing out the “old Big 12 Art Briles style of offense” quote is a classic (and lazy) go-to move for detractors of Josh Heupel’s offense.
The truth is that Heupel’s offense has evolved. Sure, there are still choice routes (which are also used in the NFL believe it or not) and wide splits, but we’re seeing heavy condensed formations from Tennessee this season along with more traditional NFL routes from wide receivers.
Tennessee could be undefeated right now if not for poorly timed mistakes in their losses. A missed field goal against Georgia, a bad play selection against Alabama that led to a game-changing pick six, a missed assignment against Oklahoma that led to a scoop and score. Those mistakes are why the Vols have three losses, not because of the scheme or because the defense is allowing 31 points per game.
Klatt said that Tennessee’s offense under Heupel doesn’t win championships.
So far, that’s true.
But it’s also true of almost every coach/program in college football (Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, and Dabo Swinney are the only three active coaches in college football to win a national championship). We could just as easily say the same thing about Oregon under Dan Lanning, Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin, Alabama under Kalen DeBoer, Notre Dame under Marcus Freeman, or USC under Lincoln Riley (or Oklahoma under Lincoln Riley).
See how easy it is to spin a narrative?
Tennessee’s defense was elite last season despite the Vols’ offense running more plays per game in 2024 than they are in 2025 (72 offensive plays per game in 2025 compared to 74.7 offensive plays per game in 2024). Additionally, the Vols are 2-2 against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the Heupel era. (Is Alabama a “quality opponent, Joel?)
I don’t know how else to say this: I think Joel Klatt may just be a hater.
This article was originally published on A to Z Sports Tennessee Vols as ‘It doesn’t win championships, it doesn’t beat quality opponents’ – College football analyst goes scorched earth on the Tennessee Vols.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Josh Heupel appeared to forget an important rule during loss to Oklahoma and it was a really bad look for Tennessee’s head coach
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a brutal mistake in the loss to the Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend.
