Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Welcome back to Game of Inches. Number 1 ranked Texas walks into Neyland on Saturday. First time these two have ever played in this building. Noon kick. College Gameday. Perfect fall weather at kickoff. This is the week the series was built for. This is top tier college football in the south.
Everybody talks Peyton and Arch and who the real UT is. That is the noise. The game is much simpler.
If Tennessee stays on schedule on the ground, Faizon Brandon plays the game he has already shown he can play. If this offense lives behind the sticks for four quarters, you are asking a true freshman to be perfect in his first SEC start. He will not be. That is when the freshman mistake shows up and costs you the game. That is the inch and it feels that simple this week.
Texas is favored because they think they can stuff the run and make Brandon beat them. I get why they think that. This front has not been gashed. Ohio State got 94. UTSA got 72 after bouncing a few series outside. Nobody has lined up and shoved this group around for four quarters.
That does not mean the Tennessee’s backs cannot win their snaps.
DeSean Bishop has already done this against the best in the league. He rushed for over 1000 yards with a sec schedule last season. That was not Furman. That was not Kennesaw. That was the top SEC fronts and he ran through them anyway. Defenders bounce off him like they did not even get a piece. He ran through arm tackles against Georgia Tech. He broke more than one against Kennesaw before the hip. This is not a back who needs a perfect crease. He makes the first guy miss by running through him. You do not need 8 yards a carry on Saturday. You need him to turn 2 into 5 and keep this thing in first and 10. He has already shown he can do that when the jersey across from him is supposed to be better.
Daune Morris is the other half of that. If Texas overplays Bishop, Morris has the speed to make them pay for being a step late. The 42 yarder against Kennesaw was the reminder. Once he is on the edge and a linebacker is a half count behind, he is gone. This room has shown it can be the difference even when the line is not winning every block. That is the part the 300 yards a week number actually tells you. It did not all come from pancake parties. A lot of it came from the backs finishing runs the line only started.
That is why Bishop has to be himself. Not just dressed. Himself. He left Kennesaw with a hip, came back for two carries, and came back out. Heupel says he is feeling pretty good and will be ready. Pretty good is not the workhorse version that guys bounce off of. This plan lives on him setting the tone. Morris can take over a series. But he cannot be the only hammer all afternoon against this front if Bishop is protecting a nagging injury.
The line still has to give them something to work with. The right guard has been the sore spot. Jesse Perry is at tackle because that job never got settled. Perry has done an excellent job at tackle but losing him as the starting guard has created problems. Sham Umarov has taken most of the right guard snaps and it has not been clean enough. Donovan Haslam is the physical one they brought in from West Virginia. If you are asking this backfield to stay on schedule against Texas, that is the first spot I would look at. Umarov has not earned the trust for 60 minutes against this group.
Now the other side, because staying on schedule only matters if the score stays in reach.
Arch Manning is a solid SEC quarterback. The last name is why media fawn over him. Take the name off the jersey and he is a guy sitting around 61 percent and under 7 yards an attempt who holds the ball too long. Give him a clean pocket and he will pick you apart. Get him off his spot and the decisions get sloppy. The ball placement goes with it. Tennessee has to make him uncomfortable. If he plays pitch and catch all afternoon, this building will not be loud enough.
Texas is not good enough on offense to run away from Neyland just because the Vols have a couple of empty drives. That is not the fear. The fear is second and 11 all day. Third and 10 all day. A freshman seeing ghosts by the fourth quarter because you never let him play downhill. Brandon has been clean for three weeks. You do not keep him clean by putting him in obvious passing downs against this front over and over for 60 minutes.
So here is Saturday. Let Bishop and Morris keep this thing in first and 10. Keep Brandon in the offense he already knows. Make Manning work in chaos.
I think this backfield can do its part. Bishop has already proven that. I have watched this backfield do it when the line was not perfect. That is the belief. But if you live behind the sticks and you are asking a kid to be something he may not be ready for yet. Stay on schedule and this building gets the game it came for. The pressure flips to Texas. Neyland turns to hell on earth for a Texas program known for struggling on the road as of late
That is the game of inches this week. Everything else is noise.
GO VOLS!