The Tennessee Volunteers averaged 217.8 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry last season.
Not against Pittsburgh.
The Vols never got going on the ground during their 41-34 loss to the Panthers in Neyland Stadium, amassing 136 yards for an output that ranked 11th among Tennessee’s 13 games. Tennessee’s only rushing efforts that were worse transpired against Alabama (65 yards) and Georgia (55), the two teams that vied for the Southeastern Conference and national championships.
Tennessee and Pittsburgh meet again Saturday, with the Vols serving as the first SEC program to visit Acrisure Stadium, known formerly as Heinz Field.
“They have a veteran group that plays extremely hard, and they are physically mature,” Tennessee second-year coach Josh Heupel said Monday during a news conference. “The structure of their defense, and I don’t care what personnel grouping or what formation you’re playing in, they’re going to load it up and play with extra bodies in there.
“They make it difficult to run the football, and for us offensively, it starts with the ability to run the football, so that will be a pivotal part of this football game.”
Remove a 54-yard run by quarterback Joe Milton III and a 23-yard run by quarterback Hendon Hooker, and the Vols averaged 1.9 yards per rush in last year’s inaugural Johnny Majors Classic, reflecting the long afternoon for Tennessee’s running backs.
Jabari Small rushed eight times for 18 yards, while Jaylen Wright’s 11 carries netted 15 yards.
“They’re a run-stop defense first, and then they try to slow down the pass,” Small said Monday. “They play physical, and we’re very familiar with their defense. They’re just like an SEC opponent.
“We’ve just got to play the game and roll with the punches.”
Pittsburgh finished sixth in the country in run defense last year, yielding just 89.2 yards a game, but the Panthers allowed 190 yards and 5.8 yards per rush in last Thursday’s opening 38-31 triumph over West Virginia in the “Backyard Brawl.” Senior linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who had six tackles last September in Knoxville, led the Panthers against the Mountaineers with 10 tackles, including a sack.
Junior linebacker Bangally Kamara added nine tackles and two pass breakups in the opener.
“I think sometimes for openers you can have too much in because you’re not sure what you’re going to get,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Monday in his weekly news conference, “and I think defensively it started with having too many things in that you’re worried about. ‘What if they do this? What if they do that? We better have this in. We better have that in. We better have some of this, too.’
“You’ve got to have a flavor of everything in, and sometimes if you put too many flavors in, you’re going to have a problem. I think that’s part of it.”
Though Tennessee exceeded expectations a year ago by winning seven games, a 10-win season wasn’t that far out of reach given the close losses to Pitt, Ole Miss and Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Ole Miss and Purdue are not on this season’s schedule, so Saturday is the only opportunity for the Vols to avenge a wrenching setback from a year ago.
“This is a huge opportunity for us,” Vols left guard Jerome Carvin said. “They’re a physical group, and their linebackers fit really fast. They send 11 to the ball and play with that mentality, so it will be hard, but we’ve got a bad taste in our mouth from last year.”
Said Small: “I feel like last year’s game is in the back of everybody’s mind. They’re a great team, and I’m not saying that they didn’t deserve to win. They work hard, too, but it’s definitely in the back of our heads and gives us a little more fire.”
ACC vs. SEC
Despite winning at Tennessee and winning the Atlantic Coast Conference last year, Pittsburgh is a home underdog this week, and Narduzzi was asked about that Monday.
“You’ve heard all summer about the SEC, and there’s only really two Power Five conferences in the country, the SEC and the Big Ten,” he said, “so we’re in the pee-wee league, and we’re going to line up and see if we can play.”
Pressure coming
Tennessee is expecting the Panthers to apply pressure early and often Saturday, something that didn’t happen in last Thursday’s 59-10 trouncing of Ball State as evidenced by Small’s response to a question regarding his pass protection effectiveness against the Cardinals.
“I don’t think you can pick anything up from Thursday night,” Small said. “I think they dropped eight (defenders) on every third down.”
Odds and ends
Heupel is facing the Panthers for a fourth time in five seasons, with his 2018 UCF team posting a 45-14 rout in Orlando before losing 35-34 a year later in Pittsburgh. … Heupel on determining playing time at cornerback with Warren Burrell, Christian Charles, Kamal Hadden and Brandon Turnage: “Some of that may play out game to game during the course of it and just the flow of the football game. I anticipate all those guys playing a lot of snaps.” … Tennessee tight ends were only targeted once in the opener. … Heupel made recruiting visits to Baylor School and Chattanooga Christian on Friday. … Vols freshman running back Dylan Sampson had 10 carries for 32 yards and a touchdown against Ball State and was able to “match the things that he had been doing in practice,” according to Heupel.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.