Tennessee Volunteers vs. Wyoming Cowboys: game preview

Stats and stuff after the jump, but first the key observations:

• Tennessee may be able to win with defense alone, and based on what's happened so far this season, we may have to.
• The two teams have identical records but drastically different schedules.
• With all that has transpired this week on Rocky Top, forget everything you know about the 2008 Tennessee Volunteers. We will likely see a different team.

Okay, so the stats:

Tennessee rush v. Wyoming defense	Tennessee pass v. Wyoming defense	Wyoming rush v. Tennessee defense	Wyoming pass v. Tennessee defense
105	99	15	21
56	70	36	116

Field Goals	Tennessee punting v. Wyoming punt return	Wyoming punting v. Tennessee punt return	Intangibles
T-42	73	73
T-85	104	112

If only our offense was working . . . .

Here's how the teams look next to each other in each of the key statistical categories currently used in the RTT Ready, Fire, Aim BlogPoll Computer Ballot:

Rank	Team	WL	SOS	PED	RD	3DO	TD	PEO	EXP	OPPG	TO	3DD	AVG R	W AVG
88		88	12	21	15	100	11	107	45	25	114	54	53.82	805.05
94		88	72	70	56	93	39	119	26	94	111	13	71.00	818.60

Aaaand the context for the numbers:

Opponent Result Record at UCLA  L 27-24 0-1 (0-0) UAB  W 35-3 1-1 (0-0) No. 4 Florida  L 30-6 1-2 (0-1) at No. 15 Auburn  L 14-12 1-3 (0-2) Northern Illinois  W 13-9 2-3 (0-2) at No. 10 Georgia L 26-14 2-4 (0-3) Mississippi State W 34-3 3-4 (1-3) No. 1 Alabama L 29-9 3-5 (1-4) South Carolina L 27-6 3-6 (1-5)	Opponent Result Record Ohio  W 21-20 1-0 (0-0) Air Force  L 23-3 1-1 (0-1) North Dakota State  W 16-13 2-1 (0-1) at No. 14 Brigham Young  L 44-0 2-2 (0-2) Bowling Green  L 45-16 2-3 (0-2) at New Mexico  L 24-0 2-4 (0-3) No. 14 Utah  L 40-7 2-5 (0-4) at No. 14 TCU  L 54-7 2-6 (0-5) San Diego State  W 35-10 3-6 (1-5)

So what's it all mean?

• We may be able to win this game on defense alone. And we may have to.
• Tennessee and Wyoming have identical records, but as you would expect Tennessee has compiled its record against much stronger competition than has Wyoming. The relative numbers in each of the statistical categories therefore must be viewed with great skepticism. The RTT computer does have Wyoming within six spots of Tennessee even accounting for the respective strengths of schedule, though, so be a bit wary.
• Even if we were able to compare similar stats, can we really trust Tennessee's stats to predict what they're going to do this Saturday after all that has happened this week? No.