Chattanooga Times Free Press

Vols hope for time to heal, mental reset in open week

BY DAVID PASCHALL STAFF WRITER

Learning new offensive and defensive systems and the growing pains that can come with them. A change of starting quarterbacks. Producing 28-point first quarters against Missouri and South Carolina but enduring landslides at Florida in the third quarter and at Alabama in the fourth. And who will forget the 20-minute delay against Ole Miss?

The Tennessee Volunteers have been through a lot during their 4-4 start that includes a 2-3 record in Southeastern Conference play, so this week’s open date is beyond welcome.

“It’s a great opportunity to clear our minds and be able to really look at the details without having to worry about an opponent next Saturday directly,” Vols fifth-year senior defensive tackle Matthew Butler said after Saturday night’s 52-24 loss at Alabama. “It’s also a great opportunity to rest our bodies and be as ready as we can possibly be for Kentucky, which will be in a very good road atmosphere.”

All four of Tennessee’s losses were against teams — Pittsburgh, Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama — that have spent significant time or currently reside in the national rankings, while its four victories against Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech, Missouri and South Carolina were of the blowout variety.

Senior offensive tackle Cade Mays and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Elijah Simmons were the most notable of the five players who didn’t make the trip to Tuscaloosa, but there are countless more Vols who are dealing with various ailments and can use some time off, which is the case with most every program as November nears.

“Let’s start by trying to get some guys healthy,” first-year coach Josh Heupel said when asked about objectives this week.

“We’re at that point of the season where a big part of it is us getting healthy, but at the same time, we’ve got a third of our season that’s still left. We’ve got to make a decision collectively as a group and individually that we’re going to go fight and strain to make the changes that we need to in order to play our absolute best football.

“We’re playing really hard, but we have to play smarter, because our margins aren’t wide enough for us not to play smarter than we did tonight.”

Tennessee’s challenge all season has been to rapidly improve under a new regime despite a roster that was depleted this past offseason from departures via the NCAA transfer portal. The Nov. 6 trip to Kentucky is the likely swing game that could determine whether Heupel’s first regular season is a winning one or not, with the Vols having to host top-ranked Georgia on Nov. 13 before welcoming what should be an inferior tandem of South Alabama and Vanderbilt.

Though the past two weeks have resulted in losses, the Vols were just a Joe Milton pass off Cedric Tillman’s fingertips away from knocking off Ole Miss and trailed Alabama 31-24 Saturday night before the Crimson Tide broke free.

“We’ve let a few games slip now in the fourth quarter, and it’s just the little details that have stopped us from winning a few more games this year,” Tillman said. “Going into the bye week and two weeks from now against Kentucky, we’re going to try to focus on the little things.”

Said quarterback Hendon Hooker: “It’s definitely a great opportunity for us to get healthy and to get dialed in on our mistakes from these past two weeks. It’s really just a week for us to lock in and come together as a team.”

Odds and ends

Tennessee ranks 129th out of 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams with 25 minutes and 19 seconds of possession time per game, ahead of only Connecticut. … Heupel on having 10 first downs compared to Alabama’s 33: “It had a huge bearing on the football game.” … Tillman had seven catches for 152 yards and a touchdown, his first career 100-yard game. … Hooker went 140 consecutive passes without an interception, the fourth-longest streak in program history. … The Vols notched eight more tackles for loss and are averaging 7.4 per game, which ranks third in the FBS and first among Power Five teams.

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2021-10-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.timesfreepress.com/article/282110639814189

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