Jakobe Thomas was hardly accounted for.
On third down in a one score game in the second quarter last Saturday night, the Tennessee safety made a b-line for NC State quarterback Grayson McCall. For a split second, Kendrick Raphael saw him, but it was far too late.
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McCall ended up on the turf—a spot he grew familiar with the rest of the way as the Vols' defense racked up 13 tackles for loss and three sacks in a 51-10 drubbing of the Wolfpack at Bank of America Stadium.
"We just had a simple pressure off the edge," Thomas said. "I had seen that the back stepped straight up and I knew I was going to get a free edge."
It was the first career sack for Thomas, who spent the first three years of his college career at Middle Tennessee State before transferring to Tennessee last spring. Now he's playing at one of the two safety spots and contributing in a historically dominant start for the Vols' defense.
Tennessee hasn't given up a touchdown in 12-straight quarters dating back to its 35-0 triumph over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1—something the program hasn't done since 1985.
In that same span, the Vols have totaled 26 tackles for loss, nine sacks and forced seven turnovers. Offenses—even NC State's led by a veteran quarterback and a nationally touted dynamic play-maker—have mustered just 181.0 yards per game against them.
"It's carnage," Thomas said. "That's the biggest thing that we talk about, carnage. There's guys everywhere that are making plays. I don't even know how to explain it...When you see one guy make a play, and then another guy and another guy. It's amazing to see everybody having fun."
Carnage has become Tennessee's rallying cry on defense. The players came up with it and they're living up to it, too.
Tennessee was already expected to have one of the best defensive lines in college football. The linebacking corps was supposed to be good too now back to full health. But the secondary has been equally as impressive and there has been no glaring weakness so far.
NC State, for one drive, had seemingly found one. The Wolfpack converted three consecutive third downs. They didn't convert another, going 0-for-9 the rest of the way. When they did get close to the end zone, pressure from edge rusher Joshua Josephs forced McCall to over throw his target. It was instead intercepted and returned 85 yards for a touchdown by safety Will Brooks.
Twice NC State went for it on fourth down, looking for any kind of momentum. The second attempt, two plays after Tyre West dropped Raphael for a loss early in the fourth quarter, appeared open.
Instead, cornerback Jermod McCoy, another transfer addition, closed the gap and brought down Justin Joly well short of the line to gain.
Carnage. Absolute carnage.
"We want the other team to feel our energy," McCoy said. "We want them to know we came to play."
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Opposing teams haven't been able to escape that feeling. Kent State (0-2), which No. 7 Tennessee (2-0) will play on Saturday (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) in its final tuneup before SEC play begins next week, will likely feel it, too.
Sterner tests are ahead, though. The Vols will go to No. 15 Oklahoma in their first true road game on Sept. 21, then play on the road against at Arkansas two weeks later before beginning a stretch that includes Florida, Alabama and Kentucky.
If Tennessee can continue to play the way it has on defense so far, it will past those tests like the one it faced against NC State last week.
"Our standard is our standard in terms of how hard we want to play and how tough we want to be," Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. "So as long as we continue to do that, we think we have a chance to continue to build."
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