When Tennessee and Kentucky meet at Kroger Field on Saturday night, it will be a clash of two different offensive philosophies.
The No. 21 Vols (5-2, 2-2 SEC) will try and match their speed and tempo up against the Wildcats' (5-2, 2-2) more methodical approach, which could lead to limited possessions for Tennessee.
The Vols are hoping to make the most of their opportunities with the ball.
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"At the end of the day, you understand the flow of this football game," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. "(Kentucky) tend to snap a little bit slower than we do from the whistle to the next play. The number of possessions in this game, you have to plan that they'll be fewer because of the pace of play on the other side of it. When that happens, it doesn't matter because whether it's a 13 possession game or 10 possession game, you have to maximize your opportunities and that's always true in this game but it's certainly going to be true in this one because of the style of play.
"And both sides of it, getting off the field on third downs, your special teams play and offensively your efficiency in production."
Though Tennessee's offensive game plan is at its best when it is operating quickly, the Vols are moving at a slower pace than they did a year ago.
Tennessee currently ranks one spot behind Kentucky nationally in time of possession at 26 minutes, 30 seconds per game while the Wildcats are holding on to the ball for 26 minutes, 35 seconds.
Those numbers are down for Kentucky, which finished top 15 in the FBS in time of possession last season at 32-plus minutes while Tennessee was a 130th out of 131 teams at less than 25 minutes.
The Vols have a higher average over their last three games by nearly two minutes, but Kentucky has the edge at home with 26 minutes, 27 seconds against Tennessee's 25 minutes, 26 seconds on the road this season.
Part of that has to do with both teams having to rely heavily on their respective run games. Behind running back Ray Davis, the Wildcats average 155.4 yards per game with Davis totaling 781 yards and eight touchdowns on 111 carries. He averages 7.0 yards per carry.
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"It starts with (Kentucky) five guys up front," Heupel said. "Big, strong, physical. Their tight ends do a really good job in it with some of the condensed sets. Wide receivers are involved in critical blocks, too. At the end of the day, for (Davis), he does a great job of pressing the line of scrimmage. He uses the the five guys up front extremely well. He plays with great pad level. If you're not in a good fundamental position to tackle him he's going to run through that stuff, too. Huge test for us to win up front, but the second and third levels have to do a great job all night, too."
Tennessee showed the most consistency it has all season in the passing game in the first half of its 34-20 loss at Alabama last week.
Quarterback Joe Milton III was 16-of-22 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns before the Vols were shutout in the second half. Wide receiver Squirrel White also had his most productive game to that point, catching 10 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown.
For the Vols, those performances provided the first semblance of what their offense was during a record-breaking campaign last season but Tennessee has proven it can win a low-scoring slugfest, too.
Against Texas A&M three weeks ago, Tennessee finished with one of its lowest offensive outputs in the Heupel era with just 100 passing yards and one touchdown. The other score came on special teams in a 20-13 win.
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Tennessee posted 232 rush yards on the Aggies' defense, which entered that game as the top run defense in the conference and running back Jaylen Wright ran for a season-high 139 yards on 19 carries.
If Tennessee can replicate what it did in the first two quarters of the Alabama game or if it matches what Kentucky does with sustained drives headlined by a strong ground attack, red zone possessions will be paramount.
The Vols have scored on 28 of 33 red zone trips this season with 18 of those being touchdowns. Tennessee was in the red zone four times against Alabama and scored on three of those possessions—two field goals and one touchdown.
The one possession that Tennessee didn't score on ended on a fourth down incompletion in the end zone that would have pulled the Vols within one score in the fourth quarter. For comparison, Kentucky is last in the league in red zone production, coming away with 17 scores on 23 attempts.
"It's been a little bit of everything," Heupel said. "Can be efficiency and fundamentals and technique. It can be penalties at times, too. At the end of the day, we have got to put the ball in the end zone."
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