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Tennessee’s pass rush needs to show up vs. Oklahoma’s Air Raid offense
By Randy Capps
Published:
No. 25 Tennessee began its season with a 59-30 win over Bowling Green in Nashville last week — a result that felt a little hot and cold to many Volunteers fans.
Hot, because the Vols put up nearly 60 points, 604 yards of total offense and 29 first downs, and cold because the defense allowed 24 first downs and 557 yards — not to mention those 30 points — to a MAC team.
Needless to say, the defensive side of the ball will need to show improvement when No. 19 Oklahoma visits Neyland Stadium on Saturday (6 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Why?
The Air Raid is coming.
New Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is from the Mike Leach/Texas Tech coaching tree, and his recent five-year run at East Carolina represents that school’s top five all-time passing offense totals.
Last week, the Sooners blitzed Akron, 41-3, behind 388 yards and three touchdown passes from Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield. The sophomore quarterback hit 10 different receivers, which is a staple of the Air Raid offense.
And when you consider that the Sooners only led 3-0 after the opening quarter, there could be room for improvement.
But stopping the Air Raid involves a simple concept — pressure.
That offense relies on precision. A quarterback gets the snap, makes one, maybe two reads and then throws the ball.
Angry defensive linemen in the backfield make those things much harder to achieve, and that’s the charge for Tennessee in this game.
“First of all, we have a lot of individuals up front who take great pride in their individual performance,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said of his defensive line’s play last week. “They all knew, man-for-man, walking off that football field, coming into the video room on Monday, that was not our style of play or our standards and expectations. Were there some positive things that happened? Absolutely. There is always good and bad that occurs in a game.
“Part of becoming better is being mature, to really look at your performance and be your own worst critic, not be sensitive, ask what did I do well, and what do I need to work on? That’s what I saw from that group.”
The challenge facing the Vols got a little tougher with the suspension of defensive tackle Danny O’Brien earlier this week.
Still, there could be chances for Tennessee to get after Mayfield. Three OU players made their first career starts last week. And for the first time in school history, two freshmen started at tackle.
Redshirt freshman Orlando Brown started on the left while true freshman Dru Samia got the nod on the right side.
Both figure to have their hands full with Tennessee’s pass rush — especially Derek Barnett and Curt Maggitt.
Barnett, a sophomore defensive end, had 10 sacks on his way to earning All-SEC Freshman team honors last season while Maggitt, a senior linebacker, was second team all-conference and led the Volunteers with 11 sacks.
Neither opened their sack account in the opener, however.
Instead, it was O’Brien, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and true freshman Darrin Kirkland that recorded sacks last week against Bowling Green.
Jones is looking for a solid effort from all of them this time out.
“Everything is about coming off the ball, the use of your hands, gap integrity and the second and third efforts,” he said. “Now, when you throw out two really unproven individuals who are talented, but in the world of college football are unproven. They have to play to our style of play, which they will. I expect (them) to have a very good game on Saturday night, but they are going to be challenged. They are playing a very talented offensive front.”
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.
