The Game of Inches this week is simple. Get to Keelon Russell or watch this game get ugly in a hurry.
Alabama’s quarterback is the real deal when the pocket stays clean. He sits back there and throws darts all over the field. Deep shots, intermediate windows, the easy stuff underneath. When he has time the whole offense looks different. That is the version of Russell that has put up big numbers and kept Alabama scoring in the 40s. Give him that same clean pocket on Saturday and the Vols are in trouble. The offense has not shown it can keep up in a shootout. If Russell is comfortable and the Alabama run game is not getting stuffed, this one can get out of hand early.
That is why the entire plan has to start with the rush.
Xavier Gilliam is one of the best defensive players in the country right now and he plays on the interior. He has five sacks and ten tackles for loss through six games. He wrecks plays from the inside. He has forced fumbles. He gets home. Cole Cubelic has already said he is the best defensive player in college football and the numbers back the talk. Gilliam is the guy who can make the pocket dirty by himself. He is going to be matched up against a center who is either playing hurt or not playing at all. Racin Delgatty left the Georgia game with a lower leg injury and is limited early this week. If he is not full go, Mal Waldrep is the next man up. Either way it is not ideal for Alabama. An interior wrecker like Gilliam against a compromised center is exactly the matchup you want when the goal is pressure.
The edges and the blitzes give Knowles the rest of the tools. Tennessee leads the country in sacks. That is not an accident. The edge guys have been getting home and the linebackers have been active in the rush. Knowles has packages that create one on one matchups and force protection issues. When you can bring pressure from the inside and the outside at the same time, the quarterback has nowhere clean to set his feet. That is the version of this defense that has kept games close even when the offense was stuck. It is the version that sacked Arch Manning six times and held Texas to 20 points. It is the version that has to show up for all four quarters against Alabama.
If the Vols can make the pocket dirty all afternoon, the defense has a real chance to make enough plays to pull this one off. Force Russell to move. Force him to throw early. Force him to take the checkdown or the sack. Take away the clean windows and the big shots. That is the only realistic path. The offense is still a work in progress. It is not going to outscore a healthy Alabama attack if Russell has all day. The defense has to win the game of inches up front and turn it into a messy afternoon for the Alabama quarterback.
Do that and this game will be there for the taking.