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Vols' statistical rankings after Week Two

The stats bear out what the eyeballs see, that the Vols are still finding their way to last-season form.

NCAA Football: Battle at Bristol-Tennessee vs Virginia Tech Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

There's a lot of movement in a lot of statistical categories early in the season, and not a lot of it means much, but here are the Tennessee Volunteers' current rankings in the NCAA's major stat categories after Week Two.

What Tennessee is currently doing well

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

2014

2015 App. St. VT
Blocked Kicks Allowed

1

28 1 1
Blocked Punts Allowed 1 64 1 1
Fumbles Recovered 71 113 29 78 81 1
Red Zone Offense 58 29 100 5 82 1 1
Kickoff Returns 41 80 20 14 1 4 3
Turnovers Gained 91 95 35 34 99 57 6
Turnover Margin 59 88 54 53 50 74 14
Passing Yards Allowed 12 111 27 22 57 17 29

New this week: Turnovers Gained, Turnover Margin, Passing Yards Allowed.
Falling out of the Top 30 this week: Red Zone Defense,
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense, Scoring Defense, Kickoff Return Defense, Passes Intercepted.

Not surprisingly, the Vols find themselves at the top of most of the turnover categories, courtesy of the Hokies. Passing Yards Allowed may be the only category that tells us much here, but even that comes largely against an App State team that doesn't like throwing the ball.

Tennessee fell out of the Top 30 in several categories, but with the possible exception of 3rd Down Conversion Percentage Defense, I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

Where Tennessee needs major improvement

Categories in which Tennessee is 90th or below
Category 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 App. St. VT
Time of Possession 37 116 91 51 56 94 91
Passing Yards per Completion 115 116 87 64 96
First Downs Offense 98 20 101 54 37 75 97
Rushing Defense 69 85 100 65 49 94 97
Completion Percentage 32 58 92 98
3rd Down Conversion Pct 56 81 92 78 20 59 99
Punt Returns 61 22 51 37 2 86 99
4th Down Conversion Pct 91 80 76 26 6 73 101
Total Offense 104 18 102 90 50 92 111
Passing Offense 50 15 109 70 93 82 118
Punt Return Defense 85 67 92 11 102 124 120

New this week: Passing Yards per Completion, First Downs Offense, 3rd Down Conversion Pct, Punt Returns, 4th Down Conversion Pct, Passing Offense.
Getting out of the gutter this week: None.

I really don't like all of this red, and it is still too early to totally freak out, but being bad at first, third, and fourth down offense isn't sitting well. Rushing Defense, too, is concerning, even at this early stage. But mostly, the early signal is that we need to get our offense on track.

THE BIG FAT MIDDLE

Categories in which Tennessee is in the Middle of the Rankings
Category 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 App. St. VT
Fumbles Lost 6 28 24 37 46 58 35
Scoring Defense 36 104 78 35 26 30 42
Team Tackles for Loss 67 48 90 21 80 55 42
Red Zone Defense 47 115 11 124 24 19 43
Net Punting 104 52 28 36 30 60 51
Turnovers Lost 20 58 87 61 13 66 53
Kickoff Return Defense 7 47 118 23 15 30 55
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense 57 50 91 14 4 24 58
4th Down Conversion Pct Defense 48 86 117 26 123 70 58
Fewest Penalties Per Game 56 92 26 7 16 52 58
Total Defense 28 107 83 36 46 48 60
First Downs Defense 18 86 45 33 30 50 61
Scoring Offense 106 22 94 62 36 88 61
Fewest Penalties 13 17 53 63
Rushing Offense 116 61 44 89 21 84 63
Passes Intercepted 86 56 40 15 93 30 66
Sacks Allowed 40 5 21 117 51 58 66
Passes Had Intercepted 63 83 107 84 7 65 70
Fewest Penalty Yards Per Game 51 67 21 6 6 62 71
Tackles for Loss Allowed 38 9 37 122 107 46 71
Fewest Penalty Yards 9 6 63 72
Team Passing Efficiency Defense 58 24 35 61 78
Team Sacks 100 98 99 29 56 79
Team Passing Efficiency 69 31 111 70 57 86 85
Blocked Kicks 70 41

I think this is the fattest Big Fat Middle we've seen in a long time. Time to get things rolling, boys.

Players in the Top 30

Woo, Josh Malone. And high fives to Micah Abernathy for "covering down" and getting a season's worth of fumbles all in one game. I will note that Abernathy was one of the guys I mentioned in our first podcast when Will asked us to identify the player we weren't yet talking enough about, so selfie high five for me. (Note: Selfie high-fives look really stupid. You just tried it, didn't you?)

Player Stat 2015 App St. VT
Micah Abernathy Fumbles Recovered 1
Josh Malone Yards per Reception 2 6
Corey Vereen Fumbles Recovered 11
Trevor Daniel Punting 6 3 13
Kendall Vickers Forced Fumbles 19
Todd Kelly, Jr. Forced Fumbles 19
Josh Malone Receiving TDs 24
Cameron Sutton Total Interceptions 8 25
Aaron Medley Field Goals Per Game 14 15 25
Joshua Dobbs Points Responsible For 27
Cameron Sutton Interceptions Per Game 8 28
Jalen Hurd Rushing Yards 29 28
Jalen Hurd Rushing Yards Per Game 30
Joshua Dobbs Points Responsible For Per Game 30
Aaron Medley Field Goal Percentage 1
Cameron Sutton Punt Returns 1
Evan Berry Kickoff Return TDs 1
Evan Berry Kickoff Returns 1
Cameron Sutton Punt Return TDs 2
Alvin Kamara Punt Return TDs 12
Evan Berry Combined Kick Returns 13
Aaron Medley Scoring 23
Jalen Reeves-Maybin Fumbles Recovered 23