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Tennessee Football stat rankings: This is who we are

With nearly a season's worth of games in the books, the statistical rankings clearly show the solid foundation upon which Butch Jones can build next year and the issues he still needs to address.

By Joel Hollingsworth
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

This late in the season, stability is setting in, and Tennessee's loss to Missouri didn't really have much of an impact on the Vols' statistical rankings. Let's take a quick look at how things are shaking out.

What Tennessee is doing well

The Top 30 table welcomes one new category: 4th Down Conversion Pct. It does say goodbye to Passes Intercepted and Passing Yards Allowed, the latter of which is pretty surprising if you remember what Missouri's passing game looked like last week but isn't too shocking when you remember that half of our starting secondary was out for too much of the game. A couple of big pass plays will do that to you.

This team is disciplined from a penalties perspective (although timing of those penalties remains an issue), much of its special teams are pretty good, and its defense is strong on first and third down and can mess up opponents' backfields. That's a pretty good foundation right there.

Categories in which Tennessee is in the Top 30
Category 2011 2012 2013

Utah St.

 Ark. St. OK GA FL UTC OM AL SC KY MO
Blocked Kicks Allowed 1 1 1

1

1

 1 1 1
Blocked Punts Allowed 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Fewest Penalty Yards 5 5 2 2 3 3 3 4
Fewest Penalty Yards Per Game 51 67 21 43 11 3 4 6 2 1 2 2 2 4
Fewest Penalties Per Game 56 92 26 56 15 6 9 20 10 6 5 6 5 5
Fewest Penalties 6 18 11 7 10 11 5 6
Punt Return Defense 85 67 92 85 60 27 40 34 24 14 17 11 10 7
Kickoff Returns 41 80 20 84 68 63 48 58 31 24 28 25 15 8
Red Zone Offense 58 29 100 1 44 55 39 49 33 28 18 20 12 9
Team Tackles for Loss 67 48 90 47 21 36 20 3 6 5 7 11 5 13
4th Down Conversion Pct 91 80 76 62 89 106 116 54 54 103 116 87 42 15
Team Sacks 100 98 99 73 58 78 67 54 65 50 48 34 19 18
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense 57 50 91 16 13 3 1 3 5 8 25 33 18 23
First Downs Defense 18 86 45 14 21 41 24 25 24 28 43 53 25 29
New Arrivals: 4th Down Conversion Pct.
The Dearly Departed: Passes Intercepted, Passing Yards Allowed.

Where Tennessee needs major improvement

No new arrivals to the dumpster. Rushing Offense still needs major improvement, as does protecting and advancing the line of scrimmage on offense and stretching the field in the passing game.

Categories in which Tennessee is 90th or below
Category 2011 2012 2013 Utah St. Ark. St. OK GA FL UTC OM AL SC KY MO
Rushing Offense 116 61 44 91 88 94 97 109 109 117 113 100 94 100
Passing Yards per Completion 115 87 93 103 110 117 119 119 119 117 105 112
Sacks Allowed 40 5 21 65 66 109 107 118 118 123 123 118 117 119
Tackles for Loss Allowed 38 9 37 48 41 98 109 117 119 121 122 117 109 119
Red Zone Defense 47 115 11 1 88 101 114 120 120 123 123 114 124 125
New Arrivals: None.
Recent Departures: Punt Returns.

THE BIG FAT MIDDLE

And here's the rest, for tracking purposes.

Categories in which Tennessee is in the Middle of the Rankings
Category 2011 2012 2013 Utah St. Ark. St. OK GA FL UTC OM AL SC KY MO
Net Punting 104 52 28 70 76 78 72 59 48 31 34 35 41 32
Passes Intercepted 86 56 40 10 37 33 36 12 11 20 26 24 22 32
Passing Yards Allowed 12 111 27 31 30 45 28 14 8 6 13 33 30 35
Completion Percentage 71 58 35 45 44 50 42 36
Kickoff Return Defense 7 47 118 62 76 73 54 54 59 55 50 32 35 37
Team Passing Efficiency Defense 58 21 25 35 32 14 13 11 29 49 38 44
4th Down Conversion Pct Defense 48 86 117 1 48 31 48 42 30 45 42 51 44 45
Total Defense 28 107 83 22 29 42 49 33 16 19 32 53 38 45
Turnovers Gained 91 95 35 11 29 31 43 32 21 30 27 27 32 49
Fumbles Lost 6 28 24 1 1 23 55 70 74 79 85 76 48 50
Passing Offense 50 15 109 44 54 68 54 56 62 69 68 64 52 52
Scoring Defense 36 104 78 10 21 38 57 37 19 29 39 57 46 52
Time of Possession 37 116 91 44 22 27 38 45 52 64 64 65 55 58
Blocked Kicks 21 28 33 36 43 46 55 59
Turnover Margin 59 88 54 6 19 35 39 42 23 59 58 63 48 61
First Downs Offense 98 20 101 47 48 53 84 98 88 99 88 59 67 63
Turnovers Lost 20 58 87 1 13 52 44 63 55 86 98 88 61 64
3rd Down Conversion Pct 56 81 92 57 8 63 62 81 78 94 64 66 63 66
Team Passing Efficiency 69 31 111 42 61 98 83 86 76 85 84 77 69 67
Passes Had Intercepted 63 83 107 1 34 76 43 65 53 85 83 87 67 69
Rushing Defense 69 85 100 39 49 48 78 73 67 64 67 76 64 71
Fumbles Recovered 71 113 29 19 22 22 51 65 38 53 32 40 61 72
Scoring Offense 106 22 94 41 48 83 74 89 79 94 96 83 66 73
Total Offense 104 18 102 79 81 93 89 103 106 113 113 95 78 85
Punt Returns 61 22 51 84 14 34 54 97 43 80 85 85 91 86

Players in the Top 30

Here are the players in the Top 30 currently.

Player Stat 2011 2012 2013 Utah St. Ark. St. OK GA FL UTC OM AL SC KY MO
Derek Barnett Tackles For Loss 22 10 5 6
Aaron Medley Field Goals Per Game 26 16 25 26 17 23 16 13
Derek Barnett Sacks 19 9 15
Curt Maggitt Sacks 14 15
A.J. Johnson Total Tackles 4 11 8 10 12 14 16 19 18
Cameron Sutton Passes Defended 21 25
A.J. Johnson Solo Tackles 14 6 6 5 14 15 27 28
Jalen Reeves-Maybin Fumbles Recovered 14 13 18 28
Justin Worley Completions Per Game 22 29 22 16 18 25 22 23
Cameron Sutton Interceptions 4 13 17 27
A.J. Johnson Forced Fumbles 3 22
Justin Worley Points Responsible For 16 23
Justin Worley Points Responsible For Per Game 18 25
Jalen Reeves-Maybin Tackles For Loss 21 26
Aaron Medley Field Goal Percentage 27
Cameron Sutton Fumbles Recovered 11 14
Todd Kelly, Jr. Fumbles Recovered 4 14
Todd Kelly, Jr. Fumbles Recovered 11
Justin Worley Passing TDs 15
Marquez North Receiving TDs 17
A.J. Johnson Passed Defended 17 20
Owen Williams Sacks 29
A.J. Johnson Interceptions 4
Justin Worley Completion Percentage 16
Dontavis Sapp Fumbles Recovered 9
Michael Palardy Punting 11
Devaun Swafford Punt Return TDs 14
Byron Moore Interceptions 13
Cordarrelle Patterson Kickoff Returns 14
Cordarrelle Patterson All-Purpose Runners 16
Tyler Bray Total Offense 19
Justin Hunter Receiving Yards Per Game 22
Devrin Young Punt Returns 28
Tyler Bray Passing Efficiency 29
Austin Johnson Interceptions 23

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