Photos: Tennessee Athletics
This is the first Other Sideline that does not feel like homework. Furman, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State asked you to squint. Texas does not. They are 3-0. They are No. 1. They just stole a game from Ohio State after trailing by 20 in the fourth quarter. They are walking into Neyland for the first time in program history, and they have a quarterback with a last name this building already knows.
That is the other sideline this week.
Arch Manning has completed 59 of 96 passes for 661 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. That is 6.9 yards an attempt. Not video game numbers. Not bad numbers either. Against Texas State he looked like the preseason version. 20 of 27, 305 yards, 4 scores. The last two weeks have been smaller. Ohio State: 23 of 37, 195 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 pick. UTSA: 17 of 33, 164 yards, 2 scores, and a lot of checkdowns. After he took a hit against the Roadrunners the ball stopped coming out clean. Sarkisian said after that game that Arch fell in love with his legs. That is the sentence Tennessee should pin to the wall.
Manning will hurt you if you let him sit. He will also give it back if you do not. He has 83 rush yards and no rushing touchdowns this year. The legs are a problem when the pocket collapses. They are not the main plan.
The skill players around him are why this offense still feels dangerous even when the deep ball has gone quiet. Cam Coleman has 11 catches, 178 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Sixteen yards a catch. Both UTSA scores went to him. If one Texas receiver is going to wreck a drive in the red zone, it is Coleman. Ryan Wingo is the other name. He caught the touchdown that started the Ohio State comeback. Emmett Mosley moved the chains on fourth down in that same rally. Those are not stat sheet guys every week. They show up when the game gets loud.
Hollywood Smothers is the back. Forty one carries, 198 yards, 4.8 a pop, 2 rushing scores, plus 7 catches and another touchdown. He punched in the Ohio State winner from a yard out. He is listed as questionable. That matters more than most injury tags this week. If Smothers is limited, Texas turns to Raleek Brown and Derrek Cooper. Brown put the ball on the ground against Ohio State. The room is still good. It is not the same room without Smothers.
The offensive line can grind. They ran for 141 on Ohio State and 228 on UTSA. They are not blowing the doors off every snap. Left tackle Trevor Goosby is the one to circle. Jordan Coleman is out on that line. Tennessee’s front is going to get a chance to make this a long day if the first two downs stay messy.
Now the other side of the ball, and the matchup that should have people standing up when the broadcast shows a closeup.
Colin Simmons against Sanders Jr is an NFL look on a Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. Simmons is a junior edge who was in a boot last week and is still listed as probable. When he plays, he is the best pass rusher Tennessee has lined up across from this season. He ends drives. He ends pockets. Sanders Jr had a rough one against Georgia Tech. That cannot follow him into this game. If Simmons is rushing off the edge and Sanders Jr is a half step late, Faizon Brandon is going to feel it in the first quarter. If Sanders Jr holds the point, Tennessee can actually call the game it wants to call. That one battle is worth the price of the ticket by itself.
The rest of the Texas defense is Muschamp football. Multiple front. Hero Kanu and Alex January inside. Justus Terry is out. Lance Jackson and Zina Umeozulu rotate opposite Simmons. Brad Spence is the linebacker who can wreck an interior run if Simmons is on a pitch count. Jelani McDonald and Kobe Black are the safeties. Black missed UTSA and is back. Xavier Filsaime is out. The corners are Bo Mascoe and Kade Phillips.
They held Ohio State to 94 rush yards and UTSA to 72. That is the number DeSean Bishop and Daune Morris have to live with. This is not Kennesaw State. You are not lining up in 12 personnel and deciding the game on first down. The pass defense is more human. Ohio State threw for 278. There is grass to work with if Brandon has time.
What Texas does well is finish. They looked dead against Ohio State for three quarters and still left with a win. They will take a messy game. They will take a field position game. They will try to keep the clock moving if Neyland is as loud as it should be.
What they have not shown yet is a clean road identity in a building like this. All three wins were at home. Manning has never played in Neyland. The deep ball has been missing for two weeks. Smothers may not be full. Simmons may not be full. That does not make them average. It makes them beatable if Tennessee treats this like the first real game of the year instead of a TV event.
The other sideline is loaded. It is also not perfect. Coleman in the red zone. Simmons off the edge. Manning in a clean pocket. Those three can flip Saturday.
Neyland is not going to scare Texas by itself. The name on the quarterback jersey is not going to win the game either. This one comes down to whether Tennessee can make a No. 1 team play ugly for four quarters in somebody else’s building. If they do, this turns into the Saturday people in Knoxville have been waiting on since the schedule came out. If they do not, Texas leaves town with the same record they walked in with and the circus goes home talking about everything except the football.
That is the other sideline. Treat it like the first real game of the year, because it is.