The Tennessee Volunteers host the the South Carolina Gamecocks today at high noon in Neyland Stadium. If you can’t be there, this is the second-best place to watch. The game’s on ESPN.

• Kickoff: 12 p.m. ET
• Listen online
• Watch online
• Live stats

Once the Vols game is over, shift to watching the rest of today’s college football slate. You can find our weekly college football TV schedule and rooting guide for Vols fans here, and that will serve as our “other games” thread as well.

The Vols have a high noon showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks on ESPN, and then it’s off to watching future and past opponents in action the rest of the day.

Here’s the Week 7 college football TV schedule, curated for Vols fans. It includes kickoff times, TV stations, and what’s at stake in each game from the perspective of a Vols fan. It also includes helpful suggestions on how to watch everything most efficiently and who to root for in each game.

The full schedule for the entire weekend is also included at the bottom of the post.

Go Vols!

Thursday, October 12

 

I couldn’t tell you one thing about either of these teams. But it’s football.

Friday, October 13

 

On one hand, Clemson is, like, stealing our players, man. On the other, they may be a bit of a blueprint on how to turn things around. So, your call. And this is a friendly reminder that Mike Leach is at Washington State and is the World’s Most Interesting College Football Coach.

Gameday, October 14

Be in Neyland Stadium early this Saturday for a noon kickoff against the South Carolina Gamecocks. What will happen? Who knows! But have fun.

 

Noon slot

Go Vols.

Afternoon slot

At 3:30, the Red River Rivalry will be the national draw, but we’re hoping that Georgia Tech continues to look good, and then we’re also getting looks at future opponents LSU, who hosts #10 Auburn, and Vanderbilt, who travels to Ole Miss.

Evening slot

The best game to watch here is probably Missouri at #4 Georgia on the SEC Network, as we can get a look at both a future opponent in Missouri and a past opponent in Georgia, but channel hop between that and Texas A&M at Florida and Arkansas at Alabama, too. Remember, Alabama’s next week for the Vols.

Complete college football TV schedule for Week 7

And here’s the complete schedule for the week, paginated and searchable!

With what’s happened to the Vols the last few games, fans have rightly been focused on Tennessee and have understandably been concerned about its ability to be competitive with the SEC. But there’s a bit of potentially good news this week, as the South Carolina Gamecocks come to Neyland Stadium with the worst rushing offense and the worst passing defense the Vols have played all year.

The Gamecocks have actually improved recently, and they really seem to have found their stride last week in a rout of Arkansas. As Will said on our Gameday on Rocky Top podcast this morning, if there is indeed trouble in the Tennessee locker room, South Carolina is good enough to make it obvious. But if the Vols can get their own act together and make the most of their apparent talent advantage, especially on offense, Saturday is shaping up to be a good game.

South Carolina’s Schedule

South Carolina (4-2, 2-2 SEC, NR)

• W1: Beat NC State, 35-28.
• W2: Beat Missouri, 31-13.
• W3: Lost to Kentucky, 23-13.
• W4: Beat LA Tech, 17-16.
• W5: Lost to Texas A&M, 24-17.
• W6: Beat Arkansas, 48-22.
• W7: At Tennessee
• W8: Bye
• W9: Vanderbilt
• W10: At Georgia
• W11: Florida
• W12: Wofford
• W13: Clemson

That schedule to date is ranked as the nation’s 55th most difficult. Tennessee’s is ranked 59th.

Stats

Tennessee rushing

Tennessee is averaging 137.6 rushing yards per game, while South Carolina is giving up 145.7 per game. The closest comparison, for a prior Tennessee opponent that is not as good at run defense as is South Carolina, is Florida, which is giving up 156.0 yards per game on the ground. The Vols got 183 against them. The closest comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent that is better at defending the run than the Gamecocks is Georgia Tech, which is allowing 101.8. Tennessee got 148 on the ground against the Yellow Jackets. Based on all of that, my guess for rushing yards for Tennessee against South Carolina is 165.

South Carolina rushing

The Tennessee defense is allowing 252.6 rushing yards per game. The South Carolina run game is averaging 97.0 yards per game, making the Gamecocks the worst rushing offense the Vols have played so far. The closest “better-than” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Massachusetts, which is averaging 107.5 rushing yards per game and got 144 against Tennessee. I’m guessing South Carolina will get about 150 rushing yards against Tennessee’s defense.

Tennessee passing

Tennessee is averaging 195.8 passing yards per game, and South Carolina is allowing 248.8. That makes the Gamecocks the worst passing defense the Vols have played so far this year, at least in number of passing yards allowed per game. The closest “better-than” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Indiana State. They’re allowing 235.0 passing yards per game, and Tennessee got 235 against them. My guess is that Tennessee will put up somewhere around 215 passing yards this weekend.

South Carolina passing

The Tennessee pass defense is allowing 129.2 passing yards per game. South Carolina is getting 242.7. The closest “not-as-good” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Florida, which is getting 191.8 yards per game through the air, and they got 212 against Tennessee. The closest “better-than” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Massachusetts, which is averaging 305.0 passing yards per game and got 137 against Tennessee. I’m going with South Carolina putting up about 220 passing yards against Tennessee.

Tennessee scoring

Tennessee is averaging 24.2 points per game, and South Carolina is allowing 21.0. The closest “not-as-good” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Florida, which is allowing 24.2 points per game, and Tennessee got 20 against them. The closest “better-than” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Georgia Tech. They’re allowing 19.0 points per game, and Tennessee got 28 against them in regulation. I’m waffling between Tennessee getting its average of 24 points against South Carolina and only getting 17 points based primarily on the last game against Georgia and having a new quarterback this week. I’m settling on 21.

South Carolina scoring

Tennessee is allowing 25.6 points per game. South Carolina is averaging 26.8. The closest “not-as-good” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Massachusetts, which is averaging 25.7 points, and they got 13 against Tennessee. The closest “better-than” comparison for a prior Tennessee opponent is Georgia, which is averaging 35.0 points and got 41 against Tennessee. I’m going with South Carolina getting around its average of 27 points against Tennessee.

SUMMARY

• Tennessee rushing yards: 165
• South Carolina rushing yards: 150
• Tennessee passing yards: 215
• South Carolina passing yards: 220
• Tennessee points: 21
• South Carolina points: 27

Current betting lines and other statistical models

The statsy preview calculator is a bit more pessimistic than Vegas, as the current spread favors the Vols between 2.5 and 3.5, with an over/under of 47.5-48. That makes it look more like Tennessee, 26-23.

ESPN’s FPI gives the Vols a 48.2% chance of beating the Gamecocks, and S&P+ likes the Vols, 28.4-24.

What does South Carolina do especially well and not especially well?

National Unit Rankings

Offensive observations. There’s nothing here to get overly concerned about, as the numbers suggest that South Carolina’s offense really isn’t very good. They do some things well enough, but with a Total Offense ranked 106th and a Rushing Offense ranked 121st, that should give the Vols defense an opportunity to make them one dimensional. Assuming they can just shut down the run, then the key becomes whether Tennessee’s pass rush and the secondary can close the deal.

Defensive observations. On one hand, that Defensive TDs stat is special, as the Gamecocks have had three defensive scores so far this year. On the other hand, all three of them were last week, and unless they discovered some magic turnover bean or something, I would think that a fair amount of that was luck. Their guys are probably thinking they’re especially good at it now, and I hope that means that they’ll be a little overconfident and over-aggressive this week and that the Vols can use that against them. The stats also suggest that if the Gamecocks are not turning it over, they’re giving up yards, both on the ground and through the air. They’ve also not been especially good on first or third down, so the Vols offense should have some opportunities this week.

Special teams observations. I hope Marquez Callaway is 100% and has seen the opportunity that appears to be there in the punt return game.

Turnovers and Penalties observations. And yikes, the Gamecocks don’t make mistakes, either in turnovers or penalties, so the Vols are just going to have to beat them.

Players to Watch

Offense

The biggest threat on offense for the South Carolina Gamecocks appears to be in the passing game. It’s led by sophomore quarterback Jake Bentley, who is currently 114 of 188 for 1,456 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions. He has a trio of young but talented receivers at his disposal in sophomore Bryan Edwards (27 receptions for 357 yards and a touchdown), and freshmen Shi Smith (14 receptions for 186 yards and a touchdown) and Ortre Smith (9 receptions for 113 yards and three touchdowns). Junior tight end Hayden Hurst is also a common target with 19 receptions, 297 yards, and two touchdowns so far this season.

Defense

On defense, the team is led by senior linebacker Skai Moore, who was one of three defensive players to score a touchdown last week against Arkansas. The other two were junior defensive back Keisean Nixon (a pick six, like Moore’s) and sophomore linebacker T.J. Brunson (74-yard fumble return). The secondary, too, is an experienced and talented lot, led by seniors JaMarcus King, D.J. Smith, and Chris Lammons.

Special Teams

South Carolina kickers are 5 of 14 on field goal attempts this year.

Time to play the Gameday on Rocky Top Guessing Game. If you have no idea what that is, you can find out everything you need to know here. Last week’s results are here.

Let’sa go!

1. Submit your answers to our three questions below.
2. Click the “Submit” button.
3. Copy and paste your answers in the comments below.

 

Good luck, and Go Vols!

 

Tennessee quarterback Quinten Dormady was at practice yesterday despite a report suggesting that he was considering leaving the team after losing the starting job to Jarrett Guarantano. Today, Butch Jones said that Dormady had one of his better practices yesterday despite being disappointed about the switch:

“Quinten’s a competitor, and obviously he was very, very disappointed, but that’s what you would expect from a competitor,” Jones said. “You know, I thought he had one of his better practices yesterday. He came out and he worked. Again, you’re always one snap away. We go through life and we have setbacks and it’s how you deal with it, and I think he’s dealt with it very, very well.

“Again, he’s been disappointed, but when you’re a competitor, that’s what you would expect.”

Dormady won the starting job in fall camp and played the entire game in the Georgia Tech win and the Florida loss. The coaches then pulled Dormady in favor of Guarantano in both the too-close-for-comfort win over UMass and the blowout loss to Georgia, although Guarantano didn’t really appear that much better in those games. Jones opened the competition in the bye week last week and officially announced Guarantano as the starter today.

A couple of weeks ago, we posted side-by-side depth charts for Tennessee and Georgia and included the players’ respective classes and recruiting rankings. The main conclusion from doing that was that yes, Georgia’s starting lineup was more talented than Tennessee’s. The end result of the game was certainly attributable to more than just a gap in talent, of course, but the Bulldogs did have a pretty clear advantage in that department.

The South Carolina Gamecocks are talented as well, but Tennessee does have better numbers. Whether it will matter is a different question.

Here’s the side-by-side projected starters for this week’s game between the Vols and the Gamecocks, with each players’ class and recruiting rankings. If you can’t see the entire chart embedded below, click here for full page:

As before, the color codes are based on the range of 247 Composite numbers on the list. The range starts with deep green at the top and ends with deep red at the bottom. The highest-rated player on the list is Tennessee defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie.

Here’s the list of starters, sorted by recruiting ranking (full page here):

Obvious caveat is obvious but will be noted anyway: The star ratings and 247 Composite numbers are from the players’ recruiting profiles and are not necessarily indicative of how valuable they currently are to their respective teams. Some lower-ranked guys are doing better than their rankings, and some guys with really high rankings have yet to live up to expectations.

That said, here are a few observations:

• Of the nine highest-ranked players, Tennessee has eight of them.
• Of the next 17, South Carolina has 12 of them.
• Tennessee running back John Kelly versus South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore is a matchup of extremely under-rated players. Both of these guys have far surpassed their respective expectations upon arriving on campus.
• If you’re just going by talent, Tennessee should have the advantage at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Of the nine positions, Tennessee has three 4-stars and two 5-stars. The Gamecocks have two 4-stars.
• South Carolina’s passing game is incredibly young, but incredibly talented.

GoVols247 is citing multiple sources in reporting that redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano is expected to make his first start at quarterback on Saturday against South Carolina. They are also reporting that Quinten Dormady is now “considering his future with the program.”

Dormady started the first five games and went 76 of 137 for 925 yards, six touchdowns, and six interceptions. Guarantano has seen limited action in four games and gone 12 of 24 for 54 yards and a touchdown.

As we just published a few minutes ago, Jones yesterday appeared to be focused on three things he expected out of his quarterbacks: taking care of the football, good decision-making, and leadership, and he placed an emphasis on the backup getting “leadership reps” when not starting. Guarantano had received national criticism for his demeanor on the bench for the first game against Georgia Tech when Dormady started. There have been rumors that Dormady has already left the team, but for now the report is merely that he is considering his options.

If you read any Vols news on Twitter or elsewhere yesterday, you probably saw a bunch of jokes about #leadershipReps. In case you missed it, here’s what happened: Tennessee head coach Butch Jones used the term during his Monday press conference in response to a question about how he was handling the distribution of reps between his two quarterbacks, Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano. If the onslaught of tweets and articles is any indication, it embarrassed a lot of Vols fans.

If all you’ve seen is the hashtag or the parade of parody it birthed, you’d rightly think the whole thing is ridiculous. In one short day, “leadership reps” has become shorthand for claiming credit for slacking off. Woo, internet.

Jones is largely and primarily responsible for this treatment, of course. He’s used cliches and other phrases like this since he stepped foot on campus five years ago, and he’s bought pallets full of patience from the fan base with them. But now the patience is running thin, and he’s not only suffering from the #1 cause of death of coaching careers — losing — he’s caught in a particularly nasty downward spiral where nearly everything he says or does is instantly presumed to be irrebuttably wrong. I think I just made up a word. . . . Pfffft, guess not. Bummer.

Anyway, as a lawyer, I am generally skeptical of anything that smells like runaway groupthink, and so my first reaction was to wonder whether what Jones had said was actually dumb, or whether everyone was just continuing to make fun of him for losing. And so, I went to the source to have a listen for myself:

The segment is from 12:25 to 13:57:

Here’s the transcript:

Q: “Coach, you mentioned the quarterbacks. They’re still competing, and obviously, you want to get both of them prepared to be able to play and play well. How are you dividing the first team reps with those guys, and does that limit the preparation you can have for those guys if they’re not able to get as many reps with the first team?”

A: “Well, the way we’ve always, you know, handled that situation is, you know, the #1 gets the bulk of the reps, but #2 gets a lot of reps as well. The reps are probably . . . 60/40? And again, the bye week occurred at the right time [because of 50/50?], but also, the repetitions we were able to get Will McBride as well. He’s one snap away from being the #2 quarterback. So, there’s a lot that goes into that. I think that’s also having a system, but like I told our quarterbacks, you don’t have to get a physical rep to get a rep. You can get a leadership rep by having all the wideouts stand around you and going over your progression and going over what you’re thinking. You can get a mental rep. I know you guys are only at practice for a few/couple periods, but [unintelligible — we’re in team?], all of our quarterbacks are 15 yards behind the ball, and when the ball is snapped, they’re going into their drops, and they’re talking about their progressions. So there are a lot of repetitions that can be incurred throughout the course of practice. It may not be a physical rep, but it can be a mental rep and a leadership rep, and as we all know, you need every kind of rep to be able to perform at a high level.”

Okay. First, this was an excellent follow up question from Vince Ferrara. Earlier, Jones had been asked several times questions that were obviously designed to ferret out whether there was going to be a change at quarterback this week, and he deftly dodged it every time. This follow up by Vince asked a specific question about how QB reps were being allocated, which, if answered, could have been an indication of who they were planning to start at quarterback. You can see from Jones’ two “you knows” in the beginning of his response, that he was struggling with the right answer. High five to Ferrara for the question, and kudos to Jones for answering without giving away his secret. Nice little sparring match there.

There was also an important moment earlier that was overlooked yesterday. Someone asked Jones to identify what he was looking for as he evaluated his quarterbacks, and the first three things he mentioned were taking care of the football, good decision-making, and . . . leadership.

With that context, let’s get back to the leadership reps question. If we take off our Fire Butch Jones hats and really listen to him, what he’s saying is that he’s trying to figure out his quarterback problem, but his quarterbacks have a leadership problem.

Let’s look at the question again:

Coach, you mentioned the quarterbacks. They’re still competing, and obviously, you want to get both of them prepared to be able to play and play well. How are you dividing the first team reps with those guys, and does that limit the preparation you can have for those guys if they’re not able to get as many reps with the first team?

Jones was asked a question about how to manage limited practice reps when you don’t have a clear leader and whether splitting a scarce amount of practice between two guys necessarily limited their preparation. It’s not only a great question, it’s a true conundrum for the coach. Do you go all in on one guy and give him all of the limited practice reps? If you do and it doesn’t work (or if you have already tried that and it didn’t work), do you go all in on the other guy? What in the world do you do if neither guy is making it clear that he’s the one?

And that seems to be where we are. I haven’t seen practice, but I’ve seen every snap of every game, and it looks to me like there’s no clear leader. And that means you’re still spending valuable practice reps trying to figure it out.

Then comes the second part of the question: How do you get a guy ready if he’s not getting all or most of the practice reps?

Answer: You teach him how to make the most of being a backup. You teach him to get with his receivers and talk to them about the plays. You tell him to watch the guy taking the practice snap, and you tell him to go through all of the same mechanics and thought processes that he would as if he was the guy getting the actual rep. In short, you tell him to turn his “no reps” into the next best thing, “mental reps.”

The fact that he changed the terminology from “mental reps” to “leadership reps” is an indication of an emphasis on leadership, that he believes his quarterbacks need to become better leaders, and that they need to do it even when they are not the ones getting the practice snaps. That’s all.

It was just over a month ago that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit called out backup quarterback Jarrett Guarantano during a nationally-televised game for not being engaged as the backup. Everyone agreed. Now, Jones is telling the media that he’s told his quarterbacks what they can do to stay engaged as the backup when they’re not getting the actual practice reps, and he’s getting ridiculed for it.

“Leadership reps” is an odd and amusing phrase, and Jones has made himself an easy target.

But when I hear this, I hear Jones saying that he believes he has a serious leadership vacuum at a position on his football team that requires solid leadership, and he’s trying to do something about it.