Competing against Kentucky during the Mark Stoops era has often been described as playing in a phone booth.
The Wildcats aren’t looking for countless plays out on the perimeter. They want to pound opponents between the tackles, thus the confined space reference, and that has Tennessee fifth-year senior nose tackle Elijah Simmons excited about Saturday night’s venture to Kroger Field.
“I love being in the trenches,” Simmons said in a news conference. “I love stopping the run and just being able to be physical like in those phone booths. It’s something I look forward to.”
Whether the 6-foot-2, 345-pounder from Memphis can actually fit into a phone booth is a story for another day, but Simmons and his defensive teammates are looking to bounce back from this past weekend’s 34-20 loss at Alabama. The Volunteers limited Texas A&M to 54 rushing yards and 1.9 yards per carry during their 20-13 downing of Texas A&M in Knoxville on Oct. 14, which was a triumph that contained plenty of old-school elements, but they could not repeat that dominance for all four quarters against the Crimson Tide.
Tennessee held Alabama to 17 first-half rushes for 16 yards, but Crimson Tide running back Jase McClellan bolted 29 yards on the first play of the third quarter and finished the afternoon with 115 yards on 27 carries.