The Day After

Tennessee hung around Saturday night against the Tide but fourth quarter mistakes did them in. We review the Vols’ 52-24 loss with The Day After.

HOT

Matthew Butler — After playing nearly 80 snaps a week ago, the senior was again an anchor for the Vols in the trenches. The defensive lineman finished the night with 9 tackles including 1.5 for loss and two quarterback hurries. Butler has 4.5 TFL’s the last three games. He’s playing his best ball.

Hendon Hooker —Hooker looked like he was seriously hurt in the Vols loss to Ole Miss last week, but he practiced all week and was the Vols best weapon on Saturday. Hooker was 19 of 28 for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns. Hooker’s lone mistake was a miscommunication with Javonta Payton for the interception and it’s unclear whose fault that was.

Middle eight defense — In the final four minutes of the second quarter and the first four of the third, known as the middle 8, the Vol defense was good. Tennessee held the Tide three points, they forced three punts and special teams got into the act with a blocked punt. Unfortunately the Vols could only muster 3 points of their own.

NOT

Defending mobile quarterbacks — Bryce Young had 42 yards and 2 scores all on scrambles and Tennessee just struggles with quarterbacks who can move. Pitt’s Kenny Pickett had a could of huge scrambles while Florida’s Emory Jones and Ole Miss’ Matt Corral had field days. Tennessee has been awful stopping quarterback runs/scrambles on third down. In three SEC losses, the quarterback has run it on 3rd or 4th down 21 times for 178 yards. Fourteen of those runs have turned into first downs including 4 out of 5 runs Saturday night.

Third down woes — Speaking of stopping quarterbacks on third down, Tennessee couldn’t stop much of anyone Saturday night on third down. Alabama was 15 of 20 Saturday night and he last two weeks, the Vol defense has given up 28 first downs on third and fourth down in 44 tries.

Third and short — Tennessee was bad on third downs converting just 2 of 13 attempts. Tennessee was in third and long way too often, but third and short was just a disaster. Tennessee had 5 3rd and 2 or less and they only converted one of them and that was the improv where Hooker flipped it forward to Jabari Small.

Making first downs — Tennessee had just 10 first downs Saturday night. The Vols had 7 three and outs. The Vol offense had 3 against Ole Miss. So 10 of the offense’s last 27 drives have been three and outs.

3rd and 15 — After Cedric Tillman’s 70 yard touchdown pass made it 31-24, Tennessee had momentum and had Alabama backed up. But the defense couldn’t get off the field as Bryce Young hit Jameson Williams down the middle for a 65 yard gain to basically end Tennessee’s upset bid.

Tennessee having to settle for a field goal -- Following the blocked punt, Tennessee went three and out and had to kick a field goal. Instead of tying the game at 21, it was 21-17 Alabama and the defensive stop was huge for Alabama. The Tide offense immediately went down the field and kicked a field goal of their own to make it a 7 point lead again. It was a big missed opportunity for the offense.

Hooker to Payton for 6 — Tied at 7, Hendon Hooker hit Javonta Payton for a 57 yard touchdown giving the Vols a 14-7 first quarter lead. The 14 points were the most scored by Tennessee in the first quarter against Alabaman since 1995.

Hooker’s interception — After 141 straight attempts without an interception, Hooker and Javonta Payton weren’t on the same page on 3rd down as Tennessee tried to close a 14 point deficit as a result the ball was thrown straight to Alabama’s Amour-Davis.

26 for 64 — Tennessee’s rush numbers as the Vol run game simply could not get going. The Vols longest run from scrimmage was a 12 yard Hendon Hooker run where he carried a couple of defenders he final 4-5 yards.

8-12, 175 yards — Bryce Young’s numbers on third down. Of his 8 completions, 7 went for first downs and the 8th went for a touchdown.

12 for 98 yards — Total number of penalties for Tennessee Saturday night. In the Vols four losses, they have been penalized 41 times for 365 yards.

12 — Number of touchdown plays the Vol offense has of 30+ yards this season.

The game ball goes to Cedric Tillman. The senior receiver had a career game with 152 yards on 7 catches and a touchdown.

Over the last 4 games Tillman has 24 catches and has been the a go to guy for Hendon Hooker.

The health of this team is always a concern moving forward. The other concern about this team as they head into the bye week is third down. Alabama was 15 of 20 on third down conversions after Ole Miss was 13 of 24 on third and fourth down conversions the previous. The defense has given up 28 of 44 conversions the last two games.

And the offense is not helping the defense. In the second half against Ole Miss the offense was 7 of 10 on third downs. At Alabama, the offense was just 2 of 13 and was 0 for 1 on fourth down.

The offense has to move the sticks better to help a defense that has played 194 snaps the last two games.