Here’s our weekly color-coded look at how the Vols’ national rankings are trending in each of the official NCAA stat categories. A word of warning: With the pandemic causing conferences and teams to start their respective seasons at different times, the stat rankings are comparing teams that have played to teams that haven’t, so beware any hard, fast, and confident conclusions until much closer to the end of the season.
Offense
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Appears to be doing well: Passes intercepted, tackles for loss, sacks allowed, passing yards per completion, passing offense
Appears to need improvement: 3rd down conversions (which also suggests that the bottom in this new world is somewhere around 70, at least this week), first downs offense (this is surprising to me), red zone offense, rushing offense
Defense
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Appears to be doing well: Team sacks, team tackles for loss, rushing defense, first downs defense
Appears to need improvement: Passing yards allowed, red zone defense
Special Teams
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Appears to be doing well: Honestly, it’s hard to say at this point, although the punt return and punt return defense (and maybe kickoff return) numbers are probably good news even now.
Appears to need improvement: Net punting, although two of the three guys from Thinking Out Loud last night gave Vols punter Paxton Brooks credit for winning the game with that rugby punt.
Turnovers and Penalties
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Appears to be doing well: Not giving the ball to the other team
Appears to need improvement: Penalties per game, taking the ball from the other team