Tennessee fell in dramatic fashion to Texas on Saturday, losing 20-17. It was a game that was plenty winnable for the Volunteers, but the Longhorns proved to simply be too much defensively. Tennessee wasted a stout defensive effort from Jim Knowles’ group, only scoring three offensive points until the final minutes of the game.
The clear issue was a Texas front that was just head and shoulders better than Tennessee’s offensive line. Faizon Brandon is probably still having nightmares about Colin Simmons
flying off of the edge. The standout edge rusher was credit with a shocking 5.5 sacks on the day. In total, Texas put up ten sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
“Some of it was communication,” Josh Heupel answered when asked if it was physicality or communication up front. “A lot of it was a combination. It’s guys working together.”
The constant pressure clearly got to true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon, who looked rattled from the start. Who can blame him? Texas was teeing off, and Brandon clearly was dropping his eyes in lookout mode. The result? Some open throws that were painfully obviously missed on rewatch.
Tennessee also ran for 70 yards on 44 carries, coming out to a brutal 1.6 yard average. The Volunteers just couldn’t generate a push, ultimately dooming the entire offense.
“That position group, we all understand, needs to play at a higher level consistently for 60 minutes to give us a better chance to move the football,” Heupel said of his offensive line. “Some of that’s in the run game, certainly in protection as well. All the protection problems, it’s not just five guys, it’s everybody involved in it.
“It’s tight ends, it’s backs, it’s quarterback, it’s wide receivers doing their job too. But certainly we’ve got to get better. There were times in the run game we’ve got to create a little bit more movement. There’s times where we created movement, get to a little bit of space, unblocked hat makes a tackle, they tackled well. So it’s all those pieces working together.”
We thought tight end play specifically could play a factor, and it did. Tennessee playing without Ethan Davis, particularly with all of their 12 personnel looks, it’s a bigger deal than most realize. That’s an obvious spot Tennessee has to get worked out with Auburn coming to town on Saturday. DaSaahn Brame and Trent Thomas will have to step up, along with the starting five up front.
Things will be that much tougher without Wendell Moe, who went down with an injury early against Texas. That certainly played a role in the Vols’ dreadful performance. We’ll know more following Wednesday’s injury report.
Now looking at another potential shuffle up front, it will be interesting to see how this unit responds this weekend.
