Tennessee Volunteer National Statistical Rankings After Week 7

Caveats.

Here are the latest NCAA statistical rankings for the Vols after the Mississippi State game, grouped into three categories: Those things in which UT is in the Top 30, those things in which UT is in the Bottom 30, and everything else. First up, the Stuff UT Is Doing Well.

The offense is improved. Nobody's sacking Tyler Bray, and the team is in the top 30 in Passing Offense, Total Offense, Scoring Offense, and First Downs. And wonder of wonders, the run game is beginning to catch up. Tackles for Loss Allowed broke in to the top 30 this week, and if you look below, you'll see that Rushing Offense is at 45 and climbing. If you're like me, you're thinking, "Well, so what? We were okay at that passing last year." Not true, actually. All of it was 50 or below, and Total Offense, Scoring Offense, and First Downs finished the season in the cellar in 2011. When you go from yellow to green, that's improvement, and when you go from red to green, that's dramatic improvement. Whether it's improvement enough is an entirely different question, of course.

#OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE

And on the other hand . . . when you go from yellow to red, that's bad, and when you go from green to red, that's really bad. And not only is the cellar getting crowded, it seems to be sticky, and there are more coming down the stairs.

As you'd expect, it's almost all defense, and that's exactly what's killing this team right now. Last year, First Downs Allowed, Pass Defense, and Total Defense were 18, 12, and 28, and so far this season, they're 72, 84, and 87. Rush Defense is 81, but it wasn't much better last year.

So the gains we've made on offense are being compromised by worsening defense. How many Year 2s do we get? How many you need probably depends largely on how many Year 1s are thrust upon you. But how many do you get?

THE BIG FAT MIDDLE

And here's the rest, for tracking purposes.

Players in the Top 30