KNOXVILLE - If Tennessee's football players are expecting their next game to go like the one they also played in Florida last January, they aren't giving it away publicly.
Though ranked 10 spots lower than Northwestern, the Volunteers are 8.5-point favorites for their Outback Bowl matchup against the Wildcats in Tampa on New Year's Day.
It was easy for Tennessee in its last bowl game against a Big Ten team, but the Vols are expecting Northwestern, which is anchored by a highly ranked defense, to provide a much more difficult challenge.
"I think that's what it is about them that makes them so good, is they're very disciplined as a defense," Tennessee left tackle Kyler Kerbyson said last week. "They have a really, really good linebacker who runs all over the field. He's very strong, and they work with good fundamentals as a D-line. They have good hands and good get-off.
Tennessee's Kyler Kerbyson (77) has words with Vanderbilt's Torren McGaster (5). The Vanderbilt Commodores visited the Tennessee Volunteers in SEC football action November 28, 2015.
Tennessee's Alvin Kamara (6) hurdles two Vanderbilt defenders after a pass reception. The Vanderbilt Commodores visited the Tennessee Volunteers in SEC football action November 28, 2015."They tend to stay towards one thing during the game, but they're really good at that one thing. How much work they've put in, it really shows in their ranking as a defense and them being a top-15 team."
Asked how Northwestern compared to Iowa, which the Vols hammered in last year's TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Tennessee safety Brian Randolph noted a couple of things in the Wildcats' favor.
"I feel like they're very athletic (with) a little bit more speed," he said.
The linebacker Kerbyson referenced, Anthony Walker, led the Wildcats and finished fifth in the Big Ten in tackles. Deonte Gibson had nine sacks, good for fifth in the conference. Northwestern forced 21 turnovers, fourth-most in the league.
Northwestern allowed more than 20 points only four times and pitched a pair of shutouts, and only one team (Iowa) cracked the 400-yard mark in total offense, a number Tennessee surpassed seven times in 12 games.
In national total-offense rankings, Tennessee is the fourth-best offense Northwestern will have faced this season, and the Wildcats have played one top-40 offense since September. Their only opponent to average more points than Tennessee this season was Stanford, and the Wildcats held the Cardinal to six points in a season-opening win.
Six of Northwestern's 11 FBS opponents ranked 84th or worse nationally in total offense, and five ranked 92nd or worse in scoring average.
"They have solid linebackers," Vols running back Alvin Kamara said. "They have a high-energy group up front. They play hard. Their safeties and their corners, they play hard, too.
"They can get guys on the ground. We're working on making the second-level defenders miss and working on reading our keys up front. There's a lot that's going to go into preparing for them."
A big part of Northwestern's defensive success is its ability to limit big plays.
The Wildcats allowed only 43 plays of 20-plus yards (tied for 17th nationally), just 15 plays of 30 or more yards and a mere three plays of 40 or more yards.
"They don't let much get behind them," Tennessee receiver Josh Malone said. "They're real physical in the back end, that I see. It's going to be a great challenge for us.
"We've definitely got to be real technical with this team. They're smart and they're well-coached. They do a lot of things well."
Northwestern was 115th nationally in total offense, which is only slightly higher than the three opponents Tennessee faced to end the regular season.
The Vols blanked North Texas (118th), held Missouri (125th) to eight points and limited Vanderbilt (117th) to 14 points before two late garbage-time touchdowns.
Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin compared the Wildcats to one of those SEC opponents.
"Not really Vandy offensively. More kind of Missouri offensively," he said. "They like to spread you out (with) a lot of 11-, 10-personnel looks, just like our offense runs. It's something we'll definitely be prepared for. They're not doing nothing that's going to blow our minds or anything extraordinary. All the looks they give us, we'll be prepared for them."
The Vols also expect to see a hungrier team than they faced in Jacksonville with Iowa.
Northwestern never has had an 11-win season, and beating Tennessee would make history for the program.
"We're definitely excited for the opportunity," Vols quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "We know Northwestern will be ready to go. They're a top-15 team, and they're playing for pride just like we are."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.