It's stating the obvious to suggest that Tennessee (2-2, 0-1) is heading to Baton Rouge to face LSU (4-0, 2-0) with more than a few concerns as a football team. One of those is that Saturday's contest marks the first foray away from home of the season for an exceedingly young football team. A more tangible concern is that this LSU team looks well set up to exploit some of the defensive issues that have troubled the Vols' staff since the spring.

After a September schedule that brought two top-ten teams to Knoxville the Vols have seen some good offenses. But both Oregon and Florida were designed to attack defenses on the perimeter. LSU can do that as well, but what has defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox's attention going into Saturday is the Tigers ability to play old-fashioned, smash-mouth football.

"I think these guys will incorporate the downhill runs, and that's because of their O-line. They're 300+ across the board. They will push you off the ball so you've got to anchor. We've got to be more physical, that's going to be the key to the game," Wilcox said of the challenge facing a Tennessee team that has been less than awe-inspiring in the interior of the defensive front.

"It's going to be critical for us and make sure we hit all of our run-fits. We're not as big as they are so we've got to be 100-percent on all those other things."


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