Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee did its job again. 42 to 9. 3-0 on the season. Forty plus points for the third straight week. That is the part that is simple.
Everything else is not.
I thought I had a read on this team after two games. After Saturday I am right back where I was in August. Lost. The best way I can say it is they are inconsistent from play to play. One snap looks like a team that can line up and bully people. The next snap looks like a team that is still figuring out who it wants to be. That is who they have been for three weeks.
I expect some of that from Faizon Brandon. He is a true freshman. The poise is real. He does not panic. He does not throw it to the other team. Then you get the freshman snaps too. The ones that remind you he is still learning how fast this thing moves. That mix is going to be there. Dominating three bad teams does not tell you which version shows up when the building is loud and the other sideline can actually tackle.
The offense is the part I cannot get my arms around. They are living in 12 personnel and running it. Daune Morris had 116 and the long score. Bishop went down, came back, went back out. The room is already thin with Gordon and Baker out. They ran for 268. That works against Kennesaw. I doubt you just line up in 12 and run the ball through the SEC. I may be wrong. So far I have not seen the version of this offense that makes me believe it travels.
It looks like a slow 90s attack with the quarterback standing in the shotgun instead of under center. There is not much juice. There is not much that makes you sit forward. Then they drop 40 again and you have to shut up because the scoreboard says they did their job. The results say one thing. The tape says another.
They have been sloppy in stretches all year. Flags. Drives that stall for no reason. Moments where they look sharp and moments where they look like they are playing in mud. Saturday they were cleaner than Georgia Tech week and still felt like a team that never quite put a full game together. First half was 21 to 3 and it did not feel like a beating. Second half they pulled away because Morris hit the crease and Kennesaw had nothing left.
The roster is banged up in the spots that matter. Tight end already gone. Backs dinged. D line pieces out. Texas is next. That is not the week you want to still be guessing.
Good news, if you want some. Nobody in this league looks like a machine right now. The SEC is going to chew itself up. Everybody has a question. Tennessee is not alone in looking unfinished.
I hope this offense has a lot it has not shown. I am having trouble believing the version I have watched for three weeks is going to have a bunch of success once the schedule turns. Then I look at the scores. They have not put up less than 40. They have not lost. They have done exactly what they were supposed to do against the teams they were supposed to beat.
So I truly do not know what to expect next Saturday. That is the hangover. Three wins. Zero answers.
The season is about to get a lot more honest either way.
Honestly my take is Tennessee is just using these first three games (offense is what I’m referring to) before Sec play to break in faizon “first true freshman qb to start in a while” jus to let him get the hang of things how fast the game can get how to manage the clock. Without doubt this young offense is gonna have its struggle points this year and so will the 1st year defense under Knowles’s. (Defense) now there hasn’t been that much secondary test for the defense under Knowles I definitely think the defense will have an improvement over last year. The defensive line looks pretty good but we gotta be more disciplined overall on the defensive side of things. We gotta keep the QBs contained the qb runs have been eating us alive these 3 first games. But overall I think they are just trying to stay healthy and keep it vanilla for this sec gauntlet coming up.