Syracuse linebacker drops head-scratching comment about Tennessee’s offensive tempo after 45-26 loss to the Vols
The Tennessee Vols cruised in their season-opener against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, winning 45-26 in front of 45,918 fans in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Tennessee put up 495 total yards of offense in the win. The Vols’ offense finally looked more like the high-powered, up-tempo unit fans were used to seeing in 2021 and […]
The Tennessee Vols cruised in their season-opener against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, winning 45-26 in front of 45,918 fans in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Tennessee put up 495 total yards of offense in the win.
The Vols’ offense finally looked more like the high-powered, up-tempo unit fans were used to seeing in 2021 and 2022.
Tennessee, specifically, seemed to utilize tempo more often than we’ve seen in the last couple of years. And that tempo resulted in some, well, questionable injuries to numerous Syracuse defenders.
At one point, the broadcast captured two Syracuse players falling at the line of scrimmage simultaneously. One of the players got right back up when he saw his teammate was already down.
For the record, Tennessee did the same thing a few times. However, it’s also worth noting that a couple of UT’s defensive players who went down, like defensive lineman Jaxson Moi and cornerback Rickey Gibson, didn’t return to the game. The same goes for a couple of Syracuse’s players, like Devin Grant and Berry Buxton.
Syracuse’s players clearly had a hard time keeping up with Tennessee’s tempo. I don’t know if most of Syracuse’s players who went down were really injured or if they were trying to slow down the Vols’ offense. Either way, Tennessee’s tempo is what led to those Syracuse players going to the ground and causing stoppages in play.
That’s why it was baffling to hear Syracuse linebacker Derek McDonald say after the game that Tennessee’s tempo wasn’t a problem.
“I wouldn’t say it’s extremely hard,” said McDonald when asked about Tennessee’s tempo. “I think the way we practice helps us to handle that. The way we train in the whole summer — we’re in good shape and good condition. Honestly, the tempo of the game felt slower than most of our practices.”
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown saw it the same way as McDonald.
“I think we handled the tempo well,” said Brown. “I don’t think we tackled well in the open field. I thought that we handled the tempo well.”
It didn’t look like Syracuse handled Tennessee’s tempo well at all on Saturday. Unless by handling it well, they meant they could slow the Vols down via injury timeouts every time the Tennessee offense built some momentum. If that’s what McDonald and Brown meant, then I guess they’re right.
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