We haven't received a notice of the allegations so until that day comes I'm not sure why you'd consider it a non factor. NCAA can still make discoveries independent of the internal investigation...
We? I cannot recall a worse defense at TN, so not sure how that translates to being better than expected. I think there are some bozos who view the TFL stat as an improvement but that's largely due to number of snaps and scheme. It says very little about our overall defense.