In Tennessee’s five losses this football season, the Volunteers allowed opposing quarterbacks to rush for 440 yards, 6.0 yards per carry and four touchdowns.
That should not be the case during Thursday afternoon’s Music City Bowl against Purdue.
“Their quarterback doesn’t like to run, so he’s going to try and stay in the pocket and push the ball down the field,” Vols fifth-year senior safety Theo Jackson said in a recent news conference. “They’re going to pass the ball a lot. There are going to be a lot of opportunities for the back end to make a lot of plays.”
Purdue fifth-year senior Aidan O’Connell does indeed stay busy in the pocket, having completed 289 of 393 passes (73.5%) for 3,174 yards with 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder from Long Grove, Illinois, ranks 14th nationally with 288.5 passing yards a game, 20th in efficiency with a rating of 156.62 and has 16 touchdown tosses in his last five contests with no interceptions.
Yet O’Connell has rushed for just 26 yards all season while suffering 137 yards in sacks for a net total of minus-111.