This Tennessee team is, according to the national rankings, doing some things well, like protecting the ball and defending. Where it's struggling on offense can largely be blamed on losing some key players at just the wrong times and playing big bad bully defenses. Except for the running game, which has been consistently bad, and bad for longer than just this season. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the chart of things the Vols do (or did) well:
| Categories In Which Tennessee Was In The Top Quartile This Season |
||||||||||
| Category |
2010 |
MT | CIN | FL | BUF | GA | LSU | AL | SC | MTSU |
| Kickoff Return Yardage Defense | 9 | 14 | 12 | 21 | 18 | 13 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
| Pass Defense | - | - | - | - | - | - | 24 | - | 24 | 17 |
| Fumbles Lost | - | - | - | - | - | - | T-30 | - | 27 | 20 |
| Turnovers Lost | - | - | - | - | - | - | T-21 | - | - | 23 |
| First Downs Allowed | - | - | - | - | 20 | 22 | 30 | 30 | - | 24 |
| Kickoff Returns | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 30 | 26 |
| Red Zone Efficiency | 104 | T-7 | - | - | 23 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 20 | 27 |
| Scoring Defense | - | - | - | - | - | 29 | - | - | - | 28 |
| Offense Third-down Efficiency | - | 11 | 4 | 7 | T-1 | 4 | 5 | 23 | - | |
| Passes Had Intercepted | - | - | - | - | T-17 | T-6 | 21 | - | - | |
| Passing Efficiency | - | 7 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 22 | - | - | |
| Passing Offense | 30 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 25 | - | - | |
| Time of Possession | 90 | 14 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 12 | - | - | - | |
| Turnovers Lost | - | - | - | - | T-26 | 14 | - | - | - | |
| First Downs | 92 | 66 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 22 | - | - | - | |
| Defense Third-down Efficiency | - | - | - | - | - | 30 | - | - | - | |
| Defense Fourth-down Efficiency | - | - | T-1 | 19 | T-7 | - | - | - | - | |
Total Defense is #31, by the way, and just missed the cut.
Things we do well: Protect the ball. Kickoffs in both directions. Defense, at least against the pass, against points, and preventing first downs. Stuff in the red zone, but that's trending the wrong direction.
Defense as a whole has been improving and doing fairly well this year. This week will be a big test.
On to the players who made the top 30 this week:
| Player | Stat | MT | CIN | FL | BUF | GA | LSU | AL | SC | MTSU |
| Da'Rick Rogers | Total Receiving Yards | - | - | - | - | 29 | 28 | - | - | 28 |
Da'Rick's back!
#OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE
And now for those . . . ahem . . . areasofgreatestopportunity:
|
Categories In Which Tennessee |
||||||||||
| Category | 2010 | MT | CIN | FL | BUF | GA | LSU | AL | SC | MTSU |
| Rushing Offense | 105 | 74 | - | 105 | 98 | 114 | 114 | 115 | 119 | 118 |
| Total Offense | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 91 | 102 | 97 |
| Scoring Offense | - | 27 | 22 | - | 21 | - | - | - | 96 | 96 |
| Pass Sacks | - | - | - | - | - | 91 | T-90 | 93 | - | 96 |
| Passes Intercepted | - | - | - | 93 | 111 | T-113 | T-116 | 114 | 109 | 95 |
| Turnovers Gained | - | - | - | - | 98 | 107 | 115 | 114 | 104 | 94 |
| Net Punting | - | - | - | 96 | 116 | 105 | 110 | 97 | 94 | 92 |
| Turnover Margin | - | - | - | - | - | - | T-93 | 91 | - | |
| Red Zone Efficiency Defense | - | - | - | - | - | - | T-105 | - | - | |
| Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game | - | - | - | 98 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Fewest Penalties Per Game | - | - | - | 97 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Offense Fourth Down Efficiency | 96 | 59 | 94 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Punt Returns | 109 | 64 | - | 91 | - | - | - | - | - | |
A couple of those categories -- net punting, turnovers gained, passes intercepted -- are climbing out of the cellar. Pass sacks seems perfectly content with its station in life.
Offense took a huge hit when several key players went out with injuries just in time to play some of the best defenses in the nation back to back to back to back. So I'm not altogether concerned about total offense and scoring offense. Those should resolve when those players return and/or when the competition cools.
Rushing offense, though? Bad last year. Bad all of this year save a couple weeks, one against a delicious pastry of an opponent. It's dragging down the rest of the offense as well, and it needs to be fixed.