Tennessee faces a serious test Saturday as Pitt comes calling for the Johnny Majors Classic. We empty the notebook in our weekly installment of 10 things I think I think as the Vols host the Panthers.
1. Hey I know you — Strange match up in that the Vols and the Panthers haven’t played each other since 1983 yet the Tennessee staff knows the Panthers better than some SEC teams and Pitt knows the Vol staff better than some ACC foes.
Josh Heupel is 1-1 versus the Panthers having scored 79 points against Pat Narduzzi combined in those two games.
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks went 3-1 vs. Pitt when he was at Penn State losing his first year 2016 by giving up 42 points. The last three match ups, The Nittany Lions only gave up 30 points.
Hendon Hooker is no stranger to the Panthers and Narduzzi going 1-1 against the Panthers. He went 23-35 for 413 yards against Pitt in two games. I'm not saying he's going to play, but he's certainly been a resource for Milton this week.
2. It’s about the edge —(sorry if this put Aerosmith's living on the edge in you brain) Pitt is going to play man-to-man press coverage with their corners. Tennessee’s receivers must win.
“Those guys are tough (and) physical,” Josh Heupel said of his receivers. “We put them in those situations every single day. I anticipate them to play with a great competitive edge on Saturday afternoon.”
It’s not just the receivers that have to win on the edge, so do the offensive tackles, tight ends and backs in pass protection. Pitt lost two elite defensive edge guys from last years team that set a school record for sacks. But the Panthers are seasoned in the front seven and had five sacks in week one. Tennessee gave up 3 sacks. Running backs coach Jerry Mack said his unit must be better in pass protection and this will definitely be a big test for Darnell Wright in his second start at left tackle.
3. Defend the middle — A year ago, Tennessee was awful in defending the middle of the field as they struggled at linebacker in coverage and struggled at safety as well at times. Last week, Tennessee wasn’t tested over the middle as Bowling Green was forced to roll their quarterback in the passing game because of Tennessee’s defensive line and interior pressure.
The middle of the field will definitely be tested this week as veteran Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett loves to work the middle of he field. In their win over in week one, Pickett made his living over the middle going 17 of 23 for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns.
4. Move the sticks — It’s no secret that you gotta make first downs for the tempo of the offense to become a real factor. Against Bowling Green Tennessee was 7 of 15 converting third downs. They were 4 of 5 in the first quarter, 0-2 in the second, 2-4 in the third and 1-4 in the fourth. Heupel’s team was 1-3 on fourth down conversions.
To move the sticks, Tennessee must avoid 3rd and long. Cade Mays said on Tennessee Prime Tuesday night that Pitt gets pretty exotic defensively when they have offenses in third and long situations.
Added Heupel, (They) have multiple schemes to try and mess with your protections and create matchups where they can get after the quarterback. You got to do a great job of chewing up yards (on early downs). You don’t want to be in third and long on these guys.
The Vols were a train wreck in third and long last week.
Tennessee converted a 3rd and 5 on their opening drive and covered 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 6 thanks to penalties.
Otherwise 3rd and long was a disaster. Tennessee was 0-7 on everything else 3rd and 5 or greater. Milton was also sacked 3 times on third down.
Tennessee must move the sticks to make this offense work and to do that they must avoid third and long or fix their third down issues.
5. Gotta see it —
There’s been plenty of discussion about Joe Milton’s struggles over the last 8 days. Milton overthrew two deep balls. He had two drops. But more importantly he missed several open receivers simply because he didn’t see the field well enough. Milton has to see the field better this week. That’s the biggest area of improvement that Milton must make from week one to week two. But the head coach noted that everyone in the passing game must be better in week 2.
“It’s him having eyes in the right spot, his feet being in the right position to be accurate with the football,” Heupel said. “There were a couple of times where we hit a receiver down the field and they’ve got to come up with the catch. Some things where wide receivers aren’t reading (the defense) the same way that he is. A couple things in protection where he’s scrambling. When it’s going good and it looks easy at times, it’s because all 11 are doing their job at a really high level. It takes one guy on the offensive side of the ball to put yourself in a position where you’re not executing at that level. There are things that we can control, that we can do to make sure that we perform at a higher level consistently.”
1. Hey I know you — Strange match up in that the Vols and the Panthers haven’t played each other since 1983 yet the Tennessee staff knows the Panthers better than some SEC teams and Pitt knows the Vol staff better than some ACC foes.
Josh Heupel is 1-1 versus the Panthers having scored 79 points against Pat Narduzzi combined in those two games.
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks went 3-1 vs. Pitt when he was at Penn State losing his first year 2016 by giving up 42 points. The last three match ups, The Nittany Lions only gave up 30 points.
Hendon Hooker is no stranger to the Panthers and Narduzzi going 1-1 against the Panthers. He went 23-35 for 413 yards against Pitt in two games. I'm not saying he's going to play, but he's certainly been a resource for Milton this week.
2. It’s about the edge —(sorry if this put Aerosmith's living on the edge in you brain) Pitt is going to play man-to-man press coverage with their corners. Tennessee’s receivers must win.
“Those guys are tough (and) physical,” Josh Heupel said of his receivers. “We put them in those situations every single day. I anticipate them to play with a great competitive edge on Saturday afternoon.”
It’s not just the receivers that have to win on the edge, so do the offensive tackles, tight ends and backs in pass protection. Pitt lost two elite defensive edge guys from last years team that set a school record for sacks. But the Panthers are seasoned in the front seven and had five sacks in week one. Tennessee gave up 3 sacks. Running backs coach Jerry Mack said his unit must be better in pass protection and this will definitely be a big test for Darnell Wright in his second start at left tackle.
3. Defend the middle — A year ago, Tennessee was awful in defending the middle of the field as they struggled at linebacker in coverage and struggled at safety as well at times. Last week, Tennessee wasn’t tested over the middle as Bowling Green was forced to roll their quarterback in the passing game because of Tennessee’s defensive line and interior pressure.
The middle of the field will definitely be tested this week as veteran Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett loves to work the middle of he field. In their win over in week one, Pickett made his living over the middle going 17 of 23 for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns.
4. Move the sticks — It’s no secret that you gotta make first downs for the tempo of the offense to become a real factor. Against Bowling Green Tennessee was 7 of 15 converting third downs. They were 4 of 5 in the first quarter, 0-2 in the second, 2-4 in the third and 1-4 in the fourth. Heupel’s team was 1-3 on fourth down conversions.
To move the sticks, Tennessee must avoid 3rd and long. Cade Mays said on Tennessee Prime Tuesday night that Pitt gets pretty exotic defensively when they have offenses in third and long situations.
Added Heupel, (They) have multiple schemes to try and mess with your protections and create matchups where they can get after the quarterback. You got to do a great job of chewing up yards (on early downs). You don’t want to be in third and long on these guys.
The Vols were a train wreck in third and long last week.
Tennessee converted a 3rd and 5 on their opening drive and covered 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 6 thanks to penalties.
Otherwise 3rd and long was a disaster. Tennessee was 0-7 on everything else 3rd and 5 or greater. Milton was also sacked 3 times on third down.
Tennessee must move the sticks to make this offense work and to do that they must avoid third and long or fix their third down issues.
5. Gotta see it —
There’s been plenty of discussion about Joe Milton’s struggles over the last 8 days. Milton overthrew two deep balls. He had two drops. But more importantly he missed several open receivers simply because he didn’t see the field well enough. Milton has to see the field better this week. That’s the biggest area of improvement that Milton must make from week one to week two. But the head coach noted that everyone in the passing game must be better in week 2.
“It’s him having eyes in the right spot, his feet being in the right position to be accurate with the football,” Heupel said. “There were a couple of times where we hit a receiver down the field and they’ve got to come up with the catch. Some things where wide receivers aren’t reading (the defense) the same way that he is. A couple things in protection where he’s scrambling. When it’s going good and it looks easy at times, it’s because all 11 are doing their job at a really high level. It takes one guy on the offensive side of the ball to put yourself in a position where you’re not executing at that level. There are things that we can control, that we can do to make sure that we perform at a higher level consistently.”
