It's no secret that the Tennessee Vols' offense hasn't been explosive the last two seasons (2023 and 2024) as it was in Josh Heupel's first two seasons at UT (2021 and 2022). 

In 2021, Heupel's first season as the head coach at Tennessee, the Vols had the No. 7 scoring offense in the nation. In 2022, Tennessee had the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation. 

Last season, the Vols finished with the No. 37 scoring offense. So far this season, Tennessee has the No. 18 scoring offense, but that's mostly because of big offensive performances early in the season against Chattanooga and Kent State. 

There are plenty of theories on why Tennessee's offense hasn't been as good the last two seasons, from quarterback play to wide receiver play to switching offensive coordinators (Alex Golesh served as UT's offensive coordinator the first two seasons of Heupel's tenure….Joey Halzle has served as the offensive coordinator the last two seasons). 

One theory that's become increasingly popular this season is that the rest of the sport has "figured out" Heupel's unique up-tempo spread offense after seeing it for three full seasons. 

It's a theory that former Vols tight end Jacob Warren, who played under Heupel for three seasons, seemingly believes in. 

"So this is the question of the century," said Warren during an appearance on Off the Hook Sports when asked about teams figuring out UT's offense. "This is something we've all been thinking about forever — like, ok, that was sick, right? Scored 48 points a game, literally no one could stop us. No one could figure it out."

"But, honestly, I'll tell you the truth. I think the problem is that this family of offense, without being long-winded, in college football there's families of coaches. There's the [Nick] Saban family — Kirby Smart, guys like Jeremy Pruitt, a lot of these guys that trust hard-nosed defense. They come in with the same 'this is how it's going to be' [mentality]. They're a very disciplined unit. You know exactly what you're getting with a Saban defense. And a Saban defense doesn't have to be at Alabama. It's all over the place because Saban's had so many people that he's taught. So many people that have learned under him, coached for him and now off to other places and implement these things."

"It's the same exact thing we're talking about with Alex Golesh," continued Warren. "He's [the head coach] at USF. He's now running, essentially, the same offense that the Tennessee Volunteers are running, right? So you see guys like Alex Golesh out at USF have a lot of success against teams like Alabama. It's like how is USF scoring 30-some points against Alabama. And, like, he did the same thing at Tennessee whenever we played them in 2022. So this family of offense has expanded so much. [Jeff] Lebby is running it at Mississippi State. They're running it at Ole Miss. It's happening at a lot of different places so people are seeing it more. People are seeing our team run it more. And I think it's just getting to the point where people are starting to kind of understand what it is, understanding how to break it down. And that's on the coaches, that's on the players to adapt and be able to continue to push that needle and stay ahead of the curve and continue to have success with this kind of offense."

Warren played in Heupel's offense so he obviously has unique insight into what makes it work. So there has to be some truth to what he's saying about other teams starting to better understand Heupel's offense. 

But at the same time, just from watching Tennessee's games this season, I don't think this is the entire problem with the Vols' offense. It seems like it's just one part of the issue (at times). Tennessee's had plenty of opportunities that have been missed this season. Numerous times it's been a bad pass, a bad drop, a missed block, or just a miscommunication that's kept the Vols' offense from scoring points. 

The execution has to be better or the Tennessee offense is never going to reach its potential. The creativity, however, also needs to improve. Heupel can't keep running the same stuff he's been running and expect SEC coaches to continue to be baffled by it. He has to mix in some new looks/plays (beyond just 12 personnel) to keep other teams off balanced. Heupel can keep running some of his favorite plays, but those plays aren't as effective unless he can throw in some unique looks to pair with them. (It's kind of like a slider complimenting a fastball — the slider isn't quite as good without a fastball that's coming out of the same tunnel. If you can't throw the fastball for a strike, it makes that slider easier to lay off of.)

If the Vols manage to reach the playoff — they're currently on the bubble — they'll undoubtedly need some fresh offensive looks, along with better execution, to make a deep postseason run.