Through six games, Tennessee was one of the best in the country at generating pressure on the quarterback. The last two games? Not so much. The Tennessee pass rush has largely vanished, which has added
to the Volunteers’ issues on the defensive side of the ball.
Cutter Boley, Ty Simpson and even Taylen Green had their way with Tennessee. Specifically against Alabama and Kentucky, Tennessee had a really hard time generating any pressure. Boley ended up throwing for 330 yards and five scores, running for 31 more. The Vols got home just one time.
So that begs the question with a capable quarterback coming to Knoxville this weekend — where has the pass rush gone?
“Well, it can be a little bit of a combination of everything,” Josh Heupel said on Monday. “Teams that have gotten it out quickly. Sometimes there’s chipping on the edges and that typically buys them a little bit more time. It also slows down their route structure, so a combination of all those things.
“Running quarterbacks, you’re always – you’ve got to stay on the right side of the line of applying pressure, disrupting the pocket, but not letting them get out.”
Boley, Green and even Simpson at times hurt Tennessee with their mobility in the last three games, and they’ll get another mobile quarterback this weekend in John Mateer. He’s run for 226 yards so far this season and five scores, despite missing time with a thumb injury. That injury required surgery, and frankly he hasn’t been the same throwing the ball ever since.
Still though, Tennessee has been hurt by improvisors and Oklahoma has the playmakers to make Tennessee pay. Slot receiver Isaiah Satenga and tight end Jaren Kanak lead the way in receiving yards, while Deion Burks can hurt you over the top.
“The quarterback is a playmaker,” Heupel said. “He extends plays when the initial reads aren’t there. He does a great job on scrambles, keeping the play alive, throwing it down the field and using his feet when it’s not and everything is matched out. You’ve got to apply pressure to him, but you’ve got to try to find a way to keep him bottled up, too. They’ll turn the numbers into their favor and use the quarterback-run game, and he’s really good in that as well.”
Mateer may be struggling since his return, but a banged up struggling Tennessee defense could get him back on track. As Heupel said, Tennessee has struggled with mobility at the quarterback position, which demands attention to contain. The Volunteers tried more zone against Arkansas and Green, but gave up nearly 500 yards of offense. It was back to primarily man against Kentucky and Boley carved them up.
Oklahoma’s 77th ranked offense is nothing to write home about, but then again, we saw how Kentucky looked last week. It will be interesting to see if Banks tries anything new here against a mobile quarterback. One thing is for sure — Tennessee needs Arion Carter and Colton Hood ready to go for this one.
