One of the advantages that Tennessee will have on Saturday against Texas is that the Vols haven’t shown a lot offensively on film through the first three games of the season.

Tennessee has been fairly “vanilla” on offense in wins against Furman, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State.

I don’t necessarily think that’s been by design. While I’m sure there are things that Josh Heupel is saving for Texas, I think the vanilla approach has mostly been a product of two things: taking what the defense is giving, and not putting too much too soon on true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon.

The run game has been working well for the Volunteers early this season, so there really hasn’t been any reason to stray from that. It’s allowed Brandon to settle in and gain some confidence before entering SEC play.

Tennessee could use Faizon Brandon’s legs more against Texas

I don’t expect Tennessee to look wildly different offensively against Texas this weekend. I think there will be a few things we haven’t seen yet from the Vols, but I believe they’ll mostly stay true to who they’ve been so far this season.

One thing that Vols fans should expect to see more of, however, is Brandon using his legs.

Brandon has rushed for 137 yards so far this season, but much of that production has come when plays have broken down and the true freshman has had to scramble.

We could see more designed runs for Brandon against the Longhorns.

“I believe that you’ll see more designed runs (for Brandon) this weekend,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Tuesday. “And I think that’s where this offense has a chance to be a little bit different and to cause some consternation for the Texas defense. And not just when things break down, but doing it by design and having some creative designs to run the football.”

Interestingly, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wants Arch Manning to run less going forward — noting that Manning has been leaving the pocket too early at times instead of going through his progressions.

Both quarterbacks in this game are major threats with their legs. The outcome of this matchup could come down to which defense contains the quarterback run the best.