Here’s our color-coded look at the Vols’ national rankings in each of the official NCAA stat categories as of the win over UTSA. There was, of course, some improvement in the numbers as a result of the victory, as the run game is about as good as it’s ever been under Heupel and the defense is elite at creating negative plays. There is still much room to improve, though, especially in the passing game on offense, penalties, and turnover margin.
Offense
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Not a whole lot of change after the last two weeks.
Better Than Last Year: TFLs Allowed, Rushing Offense, Sacks Allowed.
Worse Than Last Year: Total Offense, Scoring Offense, and pretty much everything else. The passing game needs to get clicking to complement the run game and make up ground on last year.
Defense
Better Than Last Year: Pretty much everything except Rushing Defense, Red Zone Defense, and Passes Intercepted. Look at the improvement in First Downs Defense and Passing Yards Allowed. Remarkable.
Special Teams
Not much to note here. Net punting continues to improve, but still has a long way to go.
Turnovers and Penalties
Penalties are still improving. Turnover margin still an issue.