But it is not time to panic in the eyes of former Tennessee defensive lineman Daniel Hood, who played under Butch Jones in 2013.
“I just do not think there is anything you can really tell about them now,” Hood told Saturday Down South of the defense through two games. “We do not know if they are good, and we do not know if they are bad.”
Facing the triple option offense in Week 1 against Georgia Tech and then with a short turnaround to get ready for FCS Indiana State in Week 2 leaves a lot of unknowns.
“You cannot really grade them off Georgia Tech,” Hood said.
The comparison is similar to when Alabama surrendered 341 total yards to Georgia Southern in 2011, with 302 coming on the ground against the triple-option offense.
“It is like trying to grade Alabama off their performance against Georgia Southern. Not saying that Tennessee is Alabama by any stretch, but the three games in 13 days is what it is, and you are not going to game-plan as much for Indiana State. Let’s be honest, Tennessee should roll out there and do anything and probably win that game fairly easily like they did.”
Hood nailed it. We won't know how good or bad our D is till this weekend. I'm willing to bet we won't be lining up a yard of the line, and I expect our corners and D-Line to play a lot more aggressive.