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Tennessee’s offense has been up and down throughout this season, but its defense has more than picked up the slack.
The Volunteers have held their first eight opponents to under 20 points in each game, with Kentucky’s 18 points being the most they have allowed yet this season.
Josh Heupel’s defense is the only unit in the FBS to have accomplished this feat, but it also joins a fairly exclusive club when it comes to which recent SEC squads have achieved this mark.
Tennessee has held its first eight opponents under 20 points — the only 2024 FBS defense to do so
The other four SEC defenses (since 2000) to accomplish that all won national titles
2003 LSU
2011 Alabama
2012 Alabama
2021 Georgia— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) November 3, 2024
The 2003 LSU squad actually only allowed one team (Arkansas) to eclipse the 20-point mark all season before it took down Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.
2011 Alabama similarly only allowed one team (ironically enough, Georgia Southern) to score more than 20 points on its way to beating LSU for the national title.
The 2012 Crimson Tide team let up over 20 points to Johnny Manziel’s Texas A&M squad as well as Georgia in the SEC title game before it beat Notre Dame handily in the BCS National Championship.
And lastly, 2021 Georgia’s historic unit only allowed Alabama to score more than 20 in the SEC title game, and the Bulldogs got revenge when they limited the Tide to just 18 points in the national championship game.
All four of those teams won titles in each respective season, and the Vols would love nothing more than to maintain that trend.
Current Missouri student entering my third year of covering Tiger football and basketball. Contributor to The Transfer Portal CFB and overall college athletics enthusiast.
