Here’s our weekly update of the Vols’ statistical rankings, after the Florida game.
Offensive observations: Okay, so the offense is doing a good job of not letting the quarterback get sacked. Not so good on preventing TFLs, though, and honestly, needs work in most areas. These stats are compiled against two good teams and two not so good teams, so it’s a pretty good set of data, I think. They need work in the red zone, in the passing game, and, surprisingly, in the running game as well. Lots of stuff to work on here.
Defensive observations: The secondary seems to be doing an admirable job in not getting torched in the passing game, that last play against Florida notwithstanding. They’re also okay on fourth downs, at sacks and TFLs, and in preventing the other team from putting points on the board.
They need work everywhere else, though. That Georgia Tech games is still skewing the defensive stats a bit, but that’s not the only explanation.
Special Teams observations: Alright. Not broke, except for coverage of kickoff returns. They can improve coverage on punt returns, too.
Turnovers and Penalties observations: Also, not bad. The team needs to focus primarily on getting better on both offense and defense.
Player Rankings
Man, are we fortunate to have John Kelly on this team. And Trevor Daniel. It does appear that making it more of a point to get Marquez Callaway the ball would be a good thing for the offense, as well.
In the more advanced metrics, Bill Connelly posted today that the Vols lead the nation with a sack 17.5% of the time when opponents pass on passing downs. It helps playing two run teams, then Franks, then UMass’s swiss cheese line.
More of that stuff here: https://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2017-tennessee-advanced-statistical-profile