HOT AND NOT
HOT
The red zone: Tennessee went 6-6 in the red zone Saturday with five touchdowns. For the Vols to be successful this season they have to turn red zone opportunities into points.
Emit Gooden: The junior college defensive tackle had a huge afternoon with 8 tackles, including a sack and 3 tackles for loss. Gooden pushed the line of scrimmage all evening and he had more tackles then the rest of the defensive line combined.
Jeremy Banks: The freshman running back had a nice home debut rushing for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns. Banks show his power and was decisive in in short yardage runs.
NOT
The first quarter run game: In Week 1, Tennessee -17 yards on 9 rushing attempts. Saturday against, ETSU, the Vols ran for -1 yards on 8 carries. Against the Buccaneers, Tennessee finished with 190 yards rushing, but the start of games have been ugly for the offensive front in the ground game.
Jonathan Kongbo: After recording just one tackle in the season opener against West Virginia, Kongbo did not record a tackle in Saturday's win over ETSU.
--HubbsGAMEBALL
Bryce Thompson: The freshman, who had a very good week of practice, was rewarded for his work by getting his first-career start. Thompson set an early tone defensively with a pass break up and finished the first half with four tackles, two for loss, two pass break ups and the interception. Thompson was clearly more confident and clearly more aggressive in his second college game.
BIGGEST CONCERN/QUESTION MOVING FORWARD
The biggest concern for the Vols has to be on the offensive front. Tennessee planned multiple combinations in the first half. They played 10 offensive linemen on Saturday overall and they struggled at the start of the game and never got a consistent push. ETSU had a sack and seven total tackles for loss. In two games, defenses have 19 tackles for loss and 2 sacks against UT.
If Tennessee is going to be a bowl team, they have to be better in the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball particularly on offense. Tennessee's coaches have one more week to figure out who their best five are and what combination is most effective on the offensive front.
Slow and small brother. To elaborate further.
1. Zero push from DT
2. No pass rush unless blitzing safety
3. Linebackers are undersized and don’t wrap up
4. Safeties are pansies
5. DB’s only capitalize on errant throws. Lack physical play and are slow to react.
Worst Florida defense in 30 years. Worse than last years bunch.
Did not get a chance to watch much of the Florida game, but the espn crawler had that the CeCe Jefferson and David Reece were sitting out last nights game. Did they? Aren't they starters? (Not contradicting Florida's suckatude but was curious). Florida losing could not come to a better team.
Really happy for UK to be honest. Those kinds of streaks are nuts.
Yesterday was a good day of football.
On paper, this is the most talented UK team ever (in terms of recruiting rankings).
I mentioned it yesterday, but they beat a decent MAC team by 15 despite being -4 in turnover margin.
I absolutely love taking UK catching 15 pts in the swamp. That is my stone cold lock of the century, of the week.
I wouldn't mind if Banks got the bulk of the carries. He was trucking folks out there yesterday. I know Jordan has racked up some yards but I'm still not overly impressed with him.Also, Banks is a stud. He truly is a heat seeking missile. True north-south guy. We haven't had a back like him in a while. Jordan has a lot to learn from him.
Slow and small brother. To elaborate further.
1. Zero push from DT
2. No pass rush unless blitzing safety
3. Linebackers are undersized and don’t wrap up
4. Safeties are pansies
5. DB’s only capitalize on errant throws. Lack physical play and are slow to react.
Worst Florida defense in 30 years. Worse than last years bunch.
