KNOXVILLE, Tenn. –– In the days leading up to No. 14 Tennessee hosting No. 1 Texas, the message from Vols players during media availability was clear: “nameless faceless opponent.” Outside the building, though, this has been anything but a normal week.
ESPN’s College GameDay is in town along with the rest of the pregame shows, and the buzz was already there. Then Wednesday’s announcement that President Donald J. Trump will attend turned things up tremendously. For some, everything surrounding this game between two great programs brings a lot of excitement. For others, a little discomfort.
For the players who will decide which side leaves Neyland Stadium happy on Saturday, the job is to shut all of that out.
“Just to show people that this is what we are here to do,” Tennessee wide receiver Braylon Staley said. “No. 1 team coming in here. It’s a lot of talk already, but we don’t pay attention to it. We gotta come in with our head down and ready to work.”
That locked-in mentality will drive the feel of this game. After three weeks of non-conference play, we finally get to see what’s in the bag. That is huge for Vols quarterback Faizon Brandon. He’s been smart and composed in his first three games, completing 41 of 64 passes for 552 yards and six touchdowns. He’s been sacked just once in each game, a credit to him and the protection in front of him. Those numbers came against teams lesser than Texas, though. Now he steps up against a roster loaded with NFL talent.
But the best thing Tennessee can do in the loudest week of the season is make sure the game never lands solely on Brandon. That means running the football.
This is where the numbers collide. Tennessee comes in averaging 298 rushing yards per game. Texas holds opponents to 109 rushing yards per game and 3.4 yards per carry. Something has to give.
It starts up front with David Sanders Jr. or Jesse Perry’s matchup with Longhorns edge Collin Simmons, who was listed as probable on Wednesday night’s initial SEC availability report. Simmons brings 23 sacks and 33 tackles for loss in his career. How they handle him will go a long way toward deciding whether Tennessee can stay on schedule. In addition, it will affect whether they keep Brandon out of obvious passing downs.
Perry, the highest-graded offensive lineman in the country at 92.6 by Pro Football Focus for Week 3, knows what’s coming.
“He’s a really good athlete,” Perry said earlier this week. “I’ve gotten to watch a little bit, yesterday, after watching the previous game. He’s a good athlete. I think he’s going to make us work for sure. But I think we’re all capable of handling him. He’s going to require our best for sure.”
It isn’t just Simmons. This Texas front is stout from end to end and will require communication and fundamentals to be on point from all five offensive linemen. The tight ends must also be sharp. Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln spoke to the challenge for his group Tuesday.
“I think there’s no question this league, every week you’re gonna see fronts that have really good players, play with technique, play with physicality,” Abeln said. “I think our unit’s no different though, and it’ll be about the details, it’ll be about their first steps, it’ll be about their hand placement. That’s really where the difference comes as you play good people and excited about the steps we’ve taken, excited to see them take another step on Saturday.”
The blocking doesn’t stop with the big guys, either. Receivers are a huge part of the run game, and on a team running for 298 yards per game, what they do without the ball matters as much as what they do with it. Staley has seven receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns through three games. However, he pointed to the message from wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope as the focus this week.
“Main word for Coach Pope is just to finish, finish our blocks,” Staley said. “Sometimes we get caught up in play being too long and letting go of our block. But just being able to finish our block on the outside is gonna be really big for this week.”
Texas has taken notice of what Tennessee has done on the ground. They will come in with a physicality mindset.
“It’s really just going to come down to who’s more physical, who’s more sound, who’s in their gaps, who’s not in their gaps,” Texas linebacker Rasheem Biles said, according to Horns247. “I feel like we just got to out-physical them and just be dialed in on what keys we get, the tips we get, and just watch film.”
GameDay wraps up right before kickoff, and then the real show begins. One of the biggest questions to be answered: can Tennessee make the loudest week of the season feel like any other Saturday in the run game and keep Brandon protected? If the Vols can, they get to show people exactly what Staley meant.
