It’s time for our weekly 3-2-1, three observations, two question and a prediction as the Vols are one of four unbeaten SEC teams looking to pull off he upset Saturday between the hedges.

1. Hello beef — Everyone has heard me say it many times but it is worth repeating. The late great sports publicist Haywood Harris told a young cub reporter years ago, ‘boy, you can’t win if you can’t run the dive and you can’t stop the dive. Saturday the Vols could run the dive. Tennessee’s play in the offensive line of scrimmage with the arrival of Cade Mays and the use of the jumbo set yielded big time results. The Vol tailbacks had 222 yards on 39 carries. That’s nearly 6 yards a run and the Vol tailbacks had zero negative rushing yards. Tennessee’s offensive front just whipped Missouri’s defensive front 7 and at times 9. Wanya Morris was terrific and the entire unit took control of the game from the opening snap. It was some serious old school football.

“We ran the ball 51 times, so the first part of being good in the run game is that you’ve got to do it,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “You’ve got to say that, “We want to establish the run game.” I feel like we did that a little bit today.

2. The middle eight — The middle 8 minutes of a football game has become a talking point for coaches the last few years. Jeremy Pruitt has referenced it multiple times, Dabo Swinney and others. Basically it’s how you end the first half and start the second half. In week one against South Carolina it was a push with both teams failed to score late in the half and both scoring touchdowns to start the second half. Against Missouri, Tennessee dominated the middle eight. The Vols scored on their final possession of the first half. They got a defensive stop to open the second half and then scored on their first possession. If Tennessee is going to upset the Dawgs in Athens the middle 8 minutes is something they can’t lose.

3. It’s going to be different — Missouri had issues in their defensive front. Now the Bolton kid at linebacker is the real deal but the Vol offensive front played well. They will have to be great on Saturday because the Georgia defense is the real deal. In two games, the Bulldogs have given up 116 yards rushing. Georgia’s defense is fast, and super physical. Tennessee’s offensive front and receivers have to match Georgia’s physicality.

“We have a bunch of guys that are winners. They’re good kids, good men, that work hard,” Pruitt said. “They’ve got an edge about them when it comes to doing the right thing and competing. They’re coachable. It’s fun to be around them. It is for me to be around them. They might say the opposite about me, but I love coaching these guys; I love the men on our staff, everybody we’ve got men and women, and everybody in our organization. It’s exciting times for me to get up and go to work every day and be around everyone.”

1. Can the Vol secondary limit big plays? — The Vol defense gave up 5 plays of 20+ yards. And if Missouri had caught the wide open deep ball down he middle of the field it would have been 6 snaps of 20+ yards. The Vol defense gave up 4 plays of 20+ yards in week one. The Vol secondary hasn’t been full strength to this point in the defensive backfield. They should be this week which they hope will make a difference in the back end of the defense.

2. Can the Vols be balanced between the hedges? —After running it only 11 times in the first half against South Carolina, the Vol offense was ground and pound against Missouri where the tailbacks got 39 carries. Georgia was terrific against the run against Auburn giving up only 39 yards on the ground. Running the football will not be easy but Tennessee has to keep some kind of balance offensively against what’s arguably the best defense in the SEC.

Eric Gray’s role will keep evolving

In week one Eric Gray had 13 offensive touches. In week two he had 17. Against South Carolina he averaged 5.5 yards an offensive touch with 31 of his 71 yards coming on one play. Against Missouri, Gray averaged 8 yards a touch and he had 6 plays of 10 yards or more.

He’s the Vols most dynamic offensive weapon, whose role is going to keep growing. That is by no means a knock of Ty Chandler but Gray is better in the open field.

In his last four games as a Vol, Gray has 71 offensive touches for 555 yards and 7 touchdowns. That’s an average of 7.8 yards per touch.

With production like that, how does Gray not continue to touch it more and more?

You just have the feeling that Chaney has been holding some stuff back with Gray and Chandler on the field at the same time.