The Tennessee Volunteers are probably the most lopsided team in college football. While they sport the nation’s top scoring offense, their defense is very nearly at the bottom of the entire country, giving
up 29 points per game… They even gave up 26 points to Syracuse and 24 to UAB. Oof. Shoot, even East Tennessee State scored 17 on them, which is as high as the Alabama defense’s season average.
Interestingly, Tim Banks has been the defensive coordinator ever since 2021. So he was the man in charge of last year’s really strong squad as well as some of the worse squads before that.
Bryson Eason and Dominic Bailey return along the defensive line after solid seasons a year ago, as does edge rusher Joshua Josephs and inside linebackers Arion Carter. And to their credit, the front seven is helping the Vols average 4 sacks and 8 tackles for loss per game. They can really get into the backfield, and the defensive scheme is called to maximize that: the Vols are going for maximum disruption.
The problem is, their secondary has been an utter disaster. Jermod McCoy was supposed to be a returning All-American talent at cornerback, but a torn ACL last January has kept him off the field so far this year. There was some hope that he might be back for this game, but the Vols are keeping him ruled out. Their other corner, Ricky Gibson is also out for the year.
Past that, freshman Ty Redmond was torched for about a billion yards by Georgia’s Gunner Stockton, and Auburn transfer Colton Hood has been solid enough, though a bit of a penalty magnet. Safeties Andre Turrentine and Edrees Farooq and slot corners Jalen McMurray and Boo Carter have also been on the receiving end of plenty of ire from the Vol faithful. The safety/slot group as a hole has just been mostly a disaster.
There’s not a whole lot else to say about this defense. They can get after the passer and cause some havoc and get interceptions, but if they don’t get turnovers, they’ll usually break and allow scoring drives at will. They’re essentially the defensive version of “boom-or-bust,” and to this point, they’ve busted way more than they’ve boomed. Still, the pass rush is definitely dangerous, and that can make them good at any given moment.
In theory, I think Alabama will absolutely carve them up. Ty Simpson has been excellent at picking apart zones, especially against blitzing teams, and the Vols have really struggled with their middle-of-field coverage (and, honestly, all their coverages…. but especially the middle of field stuff). And while their run defense will get their tackles for loss, they’re also prone to get over-aggressive, and I could see Alabama slipping plenty of runs behind them. Most likely, I think this is about a 38 point outing for the Tide.
That said, I do fear that the Vol pass rush just utterly dominates Alabama’s two offensive tackles and it could derail the entire offense. I think the Tide won’t let that happen, but I’m not super confident in predicting that it won’t happen.
