Published Nov 18, 2023
Josh Heupel, Squirrel White give thoughts on Tennessee's offensive decline
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Ryan Sylvia  •  VolReport
Assistant Managing Editor
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This season has been a complete turnaround from last year for Josh Heupel and his Tennessee offense.

In 2022, the Vols had one of the better offenses in recent college football history while posting 46.1 points per game and 525.5 yards per match.

This season, the numbers drop to an average of 30 points and 438.6 yards.

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“Been a long time since we’ve looked at the scoreboard the way we have this year," said Heupel. "Really disappointing that we haven’t found a way to put more points on the board and help this football team win.”

Most recently, it was a blowout loss to Georgia that stunned Tennessee's offense. The Vols put up just 10 points and managed only 277 yards in the defeat.

What led to this poor output were a myriad of problems. Heupel included different looks from the Bulldog defense, poor third down efforts and more as the diagnosis for the bad showing.

“A little bit different structure, not every down," said Heupel. "Anticipated some of it. Their personnel and us managing and being efficient in what we’re doing. And then, the third downs, a lot of that was man-to-man, being able to protect it, being able to get it off, being able to go win in a one-on-one situation. We do some things to try to give them some space to create some for them to win and they got to be good enough to go make plays.”

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Third down plagues Vols on both sides in loss to Georgia

For wide receiver Squirrel White, he was a part of the offense that torched defenses a year ago. Now, he is the starter in the slot for Tennessee and not producing at the level that was expected.

So far, White has 49 receptions 609 yards and two touchdowns. He has felt the effects of the differing levels of success in the team's attack.

“It can get frustrating but at the end of the day, you just have to flush it and go out there and ball," said White.

In his opinion, the issues have been straight forward. The team just isn't executing.

“Just not executing," said White. "We should’ve come out and executed more in the pass game.”

To wrap up the season, Tennessee will host Vanderbilt. The Commodores rank last in the SEC in yards allowed per game at 440.2 and points allowed at 35.1 a night.

This should make for a get-right game before the Vols enter postseason play.