Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Kennesaw State is a tune up. Call it what it is. Heupel cannot say that at a podium. Everybody else can. They are 1-1. They just lost to Georgia State. Jerry Mack knows this building. None of that is the inch.
The inch this week is the playbook.
What does Tennessee do with play calling this week to get ready for the big test the week after. Texas is not going to let you protect the freshman all day. They are not going to let Bishop run it 20 plus times while the passing game stays polite. If that game is tight, the window where you can hide the quarterback closes. You need to know before then what this offense looks like when handing it off is not the answer. The time to learn that is now.
That is what Saturday is for.
Brandon has been clean. Zero picks in two starts. Poise. Athleticism that jumps off the tape. The box score against Georgia Tech was not pretty and Heupel still liked the way he played. Liked is not the same as ready to win in Neyland against the number one team in the country. Ready means tight windows. Checks at the line. Getting through a series when the run is stuffed and it is on the passer.
You do not want that first look to be Texas.
Open it up. Let him throw it. Find out what is there and what still needs work while the opponent is a Conference USA team that cannot make you pay for a miss the same way. If the passing game looks real, great. You walk into Texas week thinking this offense has a chance to live in the air if it absolutely has to. If the ball is late or the reads arent great, you have six days to fix it instead of finding out in the third quarter against a defense that will not blink.
Look I know what some people are thinking. Why would you open it up and put out tape for Texas? Tennessee has done a good job of keeping the offense slow and the play book limited to this point. Nobody knows what this offense truly looks like yet. Im not advocating for the Vols to go out and show their hand. Im saying keep it simple but keep the ball in the air. Push the pace for a quarter. See how he handles that.
The flags still matter. Fourteen for 142 in Atlanta will get you beat every time when the other roster is real. Clean that up this week. The offensive line needs to get cleaner at times. Those are not the inch.
See what this thing is when protecting the freshman is off the table. That is the whole point of a tune up that actually counts.