Dan Fleser
Even before Tennessee received its marching orders, Josh Heupel already was packing his competitiveness for the college football playoffs.
“If you’re not of the mindset going into this thing (of) anyone, anywhere, anytime, then you’re just there for a cup of coffee anyways,” the Vols coach said last week. “This is a highly competitive group. We’ll play where we play. We’ll play who we play and let’s go put the ball down.”
The field was set on Sunday and Tennessee (10-2) will play at Ohio State (10-2) in a first-round game at 8 p.m. Dec. 21 in Columbus, Ohio. The winner will play top-seed Oregon in a Rose Bowl quarterfinal game.
UT’s ranking and the matchup were unchanged by Saturday’s conference championship games. The Vols were seventh in the rankings and seeded ninth in the bracket after the five conference champions were placed.
Here are three reasons apiece to be either hopeful or fretful regarding how well the Vols will compete. As for the optimism:
-Defense: The 167 points were the fewest allowed by a UT defense since 1999. The Vols held 10 of its 12 opponents under 20 points. Vanderbilt’s 23 points in the regular season finale were augmented by a kickoff return TD. The Commodores’ offense was held to a season-low 212 yards.
Nothing travels better than defense.
-Run/pass balance: For the eight SEC games, Tennessee led the conference in rushing yards per game (191.75) and attempts (361). Dylan Sampson, USA Today’s SEC player of the year, led the conference in rushing and touchdowns. Ranking fourth in rushing defense (118.38) makes for a nice postseason pairing.
Iamaleava’s progression could make UT’s offense more threatening for the playoffs. With good protection, he threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns against Vanderbilt. His play was a potent complement to Tennessee’s 281 rushing yards.
Special teams: Placekicker Max Gilbert has bounced back from a midseason slump and extended his range beyond 50 yards. Punter Jackson Ross has had 20 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Boo Carter has emerged late in the season as a dangerous punt returner.
Presuming the alignment issues related to Junior Sherrill’s 100-yard kickoff return for a Vanderbilt touchdown have been addressed, special teams could make a difference in UT’s favor.
And three reasons to be concerned:
-Slow starts: The Vols failed to score a point in the first half of three consecutive SEC games (Arkansas, Florida and Alabama) earlier this season. They trailed at halftime against Florida and later against Kentucky as well. Then, they finished by falling behind by two touchdowns against Vanderbilt inside the game’s first five minutes.
Historically, Heupel’s teams have been fast starters. The trend had continued at Tennessee. This team needs to get back to doing that.
Turnovers: There’s a correlation between the slow starts and turnovers. Sampson has fumbled in the first half of four games. Iamaleava, who had thrown just one interception since the Alabama game, threw another in the second quarter at Vanderbilt.
More than ever, the Vols need to be on the plus side of this statistic.
Penalties: In conference games, Tennessee was whistled for the most penalties (74) and ranked 14th in per-game average for penalty yardage (72.88). False starts and procedure infractions are inevitable on the road. All other calls, though, need to be kept to the barest minimum because they will involve more yardage.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.