Same basic assessment, different focus

I also said our defense wasn't good; I just chose to balance that with highlighting the positive. What you are talking about with not getting off blocks or trying to run around them pretty much parallels my comments of inconsistency -- most of which were with the rotations. Losing Kevin Simon, our middle linebacker and anchorman in the middle, was also a facor. However, Haralson and Mahelona, two of the starting four on defensive line, definitely played consistently well. And I only saw OLB Kevin Burnett out of position on one play. You have to give some credit to the Gators QB and RBs for some pretty good play action as well. We bit hard on a couple of those and got burned.

As to the inability to stop the run, the Vols get to have some more practice this weekend against another extremely good RB in Moats from La Tech. I have a feeling they will try to get the ball to him early and often. If we are going to hold him under 100 yards, our defense will have to play much better, especially the linebackers. But I still say the key is getting a rush with the front four and forcing the RB to go wider than he wants in order to get to the outside. If Moats gets the corner, he will be very tough to stop.

Yes, our defense has problems. There should be some improvement shown this next weekend. There will need to be improvement for us to beat Auburn and Georgia. We were fortunate to get a win over the Gators, and now we are sitting pretty... if our D improves. But one thing seems certain-- not only is our offense actually better overall than last year, but it should continue to improve each week as these freshmen QBs get more experience. It is almost certain that there will be a let-down at some point with such inexperience at that position, but if Schaeffer learns to protect the ball better and Ainge continues to improve as much as he did between games 1 and 2... well, the let-down shouldn't last too long. Like Casey Clausen said last year, whoever QBs this year for the Vols will have plenty of WRs and RBs to throw or hand off to. At this point, 10 different players have scored Tennessee's 10 TD's this year; futhermore, each TD's scoring drive was at least 80 yards long. Now that will definitely take some of the pressure off the defense as well.

Go Vols!!!

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