Defense: Bend ‘Til They Break, etc.

The thing Tennessee was worst at last season was allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 68.2% of their passes, 125th of 127 teams that played. After Emory Jones went 21-of-27, we’re not seeing grand improvement in this category: opposing quarterbacks have now hit 64% of their passes against the Vols this season, 103rd nationally.

But here again, one difference is glaring: last season those quarterbacks hit 68% of their passes at a whopping 8.5 yards per attempt, 110th nationally. So far this season, QBs are hitting 64% of their passes, but for only 6.1 yards per attempt, 26th nationally.

In short: the Vols are doing a good job keeping everything in front of them.

There are lots of stats that will be affected by Tennessee’s pace of play, which increases the total number of snaps for both teams. One, perhaps, is this: opponents have completed 38 passes of 10+ yards against the Vol defense, 98th nationally (all data from SportSource Analytics). But through four games, opponents have landed only one 40+ yard pass play, putting UT in a tie for 18th nationally.

Shout out to this preview from Nate Edwards at Rock M Nation for a stat I hadn’t seen: the Vol defense is fifth nationally in forcing three-and-outs. Tennessee is really good at getting off the field early. But when they don’t, it’s a lot of bending and, so far, very little breaking. One key place for improvement: the end of drives. Opponents have scored on all 13 red zone trips (that’s 100%, kids), with 9 touchdowns in 13 appearances (69.23%, 93rd nationally).

There is an imbalance throughout. The Vols are particularly good at snuffing out the run and blowing up screens: 8.5 tackles per loss per game is good for seventh nationally (aided, again, by pace of play). But the Vols have just nine sacks in four games, four of them against Tennessee Tech.

And, of course: the defense has created a single turnover all year that didn’t come against TTU. One turnover in FBS competition is good for 120th nationally.

Tim Banks and company have done a great job forcing three-and-outs, and a great job keeping teams away from the big play when a drive does advance. The Vols, of course, will need to create something more on the back end of drives, whether through red zone stops or forcing more turnovers. If bend-but-don’t-break is the plan, the defense is absolutely living up to it. I’ll be curious to see just how far it can take them.