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Tennessee Vols statistical ranking trends – 2013-2019

As we prep for the 2020 season, here’s a quick look at how the Vols’ national rankings have trended in each of the official NCAA stat categories for the past seven years.

Offense

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Did well last year: Passing Yards per Completion, sacks allowed, 3rd down conversion percentage

Did not do well last year: 4th down conversion percentage, completion percentage, interceptions, total offense, scoring offense . . .

With the exception of the top four categories, this whole thing leans into the basement. We’re expecting to see some major improvement overall on the offense this fall, but we’ll obviously have to wait and see.

Defense

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Did well last year: Getting interceptions, passing yards allowed, total defense, passing efficiency defense, scoring defense, getting sacks

Did not do well last year: Getting tackles for loss

Conversely, with the exception of tackles for loss (which you would think would trend right along with sacks but did not in this case), the entire defense is trending toward the penthouse. We haven’t seen that much green since 2014. A belated high-five to John Jancek.

Special Teams

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Did well last year: Punt returns, kickoff return defense

Needs attention: There really wasn’t anything the Vols were really bad at on special teams last year, but they could improve in the punt game.

Turnovers and Penalties

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Currently doing well: Um . . .

Did not do well last year: Fumbles Recovered

There’s a lot of room for improvement in both penalties and turnovers this year. The team was not very good at either keeping possession or taking it from the other team last fall, and there are a lot of hidden yards in the penalty department, as long as fixing that doesn’t come at the cost of necessary aggression.