KNOXVILLE – Win or lose, the standard and approach for Sal Sunseri’s defense remain the same.
Even though his Tennessee players looked particular awful at times in allowing 51 points and 560 yards to Georgia, the Volunteers’ first-year coordinator isn’t pounding the panic button.
The mistakes need correction, but the demands haven’t changed.
“It’s been good,” Sunseri said after Wednesday’s practice about his team’s response this week. “No one’s going to feel sorry for them out there. We’re going to go out there and we’re going to challenge them regardless of the outcome, just like we did when we won three games and we lost two games.
“We’re going to go out there and demand that they do it right, demand the standard and demand them to go make plays. It all comes down to young men making plays in space, tight quarters — it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to go make plays, and we didn’t make enough plays [and] gave up too many big plays.”