A slight concern arose for the Tennessee in win against UAB, but should Vols fans really be worried?
The Tennessee Vols cruised to an easy 56-24 win against UAB on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. The game was essentially over at halftime with the Vols leading 42-7. While it was an easy win for Tennessee, it doesn’t mean it was perfect. Fans, in fact, seemed to be concerned about the Vols’ pass defense after […]
The Tennessee Vols cruised to an easy 56-24 win against UAB on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
The game was essentially over at halftime with the Vols leading 42-7.
While it was an easy win for Tennessee, it doesn’t mean it was perfect. Fans, in fact, seemed to be concerned about the Vols’ pass defense after Tennessee gave up 371 passing yards to the Blazers on Saturday.
Should Vols fans be concerned about Tennessee’s pass defense?
Giving up 371 passing yards to UAB certainly isn’t ideal. But numbers aren’t always as bad as they look.
Tennessee shut down UAB’s run game — the Blazers averaged just 1.2 yards per rush on Saturday. As a result, UAB leaned heavily on their passing attack. The Blazers attempted 52 passes against the Vols. That’s the most passes any team has attempted against Tennessee this season.
UAB averaged 7.1 yards per pass attempt (By comparison, Tennessee averaged 9.2 yards per pass). Last week, Georgia averaged 9.5 yards per pass against Tennessee.
Those still aren’t great numbers, but it’s worth noting that Tennessee is down several key defensive players — specifically their top two cornerbacks, Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson (McCoy could be back in October, but Gibson likely won’t return this season). Those injuries have forced true freshman cornerback Ty Redmond to play a lot of snaps early in his career. Redmond is going to be a great player for the Vols, but he’s going through some growing pains. He’s going to get better each week as he gains experience.
Ultimately, I think it’s too early to freak out about Tennessee’s pass defense. A lot of the yardage that Tennessee gave up against Syracuse and UAB was after the outcome of the game was already decided. The Georgia game turned into a shootout and Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton made some big-time throws. It happens.
Tennessee’s defense will need to be better overall moving forward. But they have the talent to be better. They’ve gotta get healthy, and they’ve gotta be more sound in their assignments, but I don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button yet.
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