UT’s Jacques Smith brings down Pig Howard during the Orange and White game Saturday at Neyland Stadium.KNOXVILLE – Hey, Sal Sunseri’s defense never gave up 71 points.
OK, so we kid. Tennessee’s Orange unit (defense) may have surrendered 71 points to the Whites (offense) in new coach Butch Jones’ version of the modified Stableford scoring system, Spring Football Edition, but it also racked up 95 points.
And as any Vols coaching legend in any sport — be it Pat Summitt, Ray Mears, Gen. Robert Neyland (well, maybe not Neyland) or Phillip Fulmer almost certainly would agree — a 24-point win is nothing to ridicule.
Even against your own teammates.
In some ways, the defense even showed mind-blowing improvement, totaling nine sacks (worth one point each in the Jones point system) and a mere 98 yards net rushing allowed. For perspective, former coordinator Sunseri’s defenseless “D” totaled 17 sacks all of last season.