A few months ago we looked at pass distribution under Josh Heupel at UT and UCF. The big takeaway there: in spite of playing at a faster pace, the wide receiver rotation under Heupel tends to be tighter. Last season Velus Jones and Cedric Tillman had 51.9% of Tennessee’s receptions, […]
Author: Will Shelton
More Ready to Believe Than (Almost) Ever
August isn’t always for the rational. Hope will thrive on campuses across the nation this month, so long as health allows. Everyone is undefeated until August 27 (Nebraska/Northwestern in Ireland! Vanderbilt at Hawaii!). The rest of us will make it until a weekend beginning in just 27 days, when the […]
Making Progress: Sack Rate
Outside of the tempo-infused stats, the best thing Tennessee did last year was Hendon Hooker’s three interceptions on 303 pass attempts. That number is even more impressive considering how often Hooker was sacked. Last season the Vols allowed 44 sacks, 124th nationally. And this too wasn’t just a function of […]
Best of the Best: Fewest Interceptions
This is Monday. Next Monday is August. We’re close. In these final few weeks before kickoff, we’re taking a look at the things Tennessee did very best…and very worst in 2021. There are places for celebration, as well as a moment to ask if we’ll see such greatness again this […]
A successful season through the eyes of bowl projections
Here’s something that caught my eye from media days this week: One thing about this conversation: the team that should be the consensus “third best” team in the league, Texas A&M, isn’t on our schedule. So to some degree, it doesn’t matter whether you think the Vols or Aggies is […]
A successful season through the eyes of Tennessee’s most important games
Next week, somebody is going to be picked second in the SEC East. Maybe it’ll be the Vols, maybe not. But I would anticipate Tennessee being close enough to warrant conversation. That’s not really a goal, of course. You don’t get a silver medal. If the Vols have a successful […]
How rare are multiple five-stars at Tennessee?
The composite recruiting rankings at 247 go back to 2000. That February, the Vols signed five five-stars – pretty good! – including Michael Munoz, Jason Respert, and Casey Clausen. The next two years, Tennessee signed three five-stars each February, giving the program 11 five-stars from 2000-2002. From 2003-2023, the program […]
Tennessee’s 10 Best Performances vs Expectations
Earlier this week, we revisited our list from last summer of Tennessee’s best and worst surprises. Using data from Phil Steele’s all access online, we tracked the Vols against the spread going all the way back to 1985, looking for the games they most over-and-under-performed. On Tuesday, we did the […]
Tennessee’s Best & Worst Surprises, Revisited
Last summer, we looked at some of Tennessee’s best and worst surprises in the post-Fulmer era. We used UT’s performance relative to expectations: how much did Tennessee over-or-under-perform against the spread? In the negative department, four of Tennessee’s five worst performances against the spread post-Fulmer came from 2017-2020, and each […]
Is there a version of realignment that’s best for Tennessee?
It was kind of USC and UCLA, all things considered, to let their news loose on June 30. Nine weeks til kickoff, three weeks til SEC Media Days, baseball season moving into the rear view. It’s great content, thanks! So now, is there a great version of where all this […]