The Tennessee Volunteers have reached the first open date on their 2024 football schedule.
It’s hard to find much fault with the here and now.
Tennessee has catapulted out of the gate with four wins by double-digit margins, which looks even more impressive this week following Saturday night’s 25-15 topping of Oklahoma in Norman as the Sooners staged their first Southeastern Conference game against a league opponent. The Vols began this season ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and now stand at No. 5, and they resume play Oct. 5 with a date against Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“We’ve talked about starting fast in the season, and we’ve done that,” Vols fourth-year coach Josh Heupel said after Saturday’s win. “We’ve got some guys who’ve got to get healthy. As a football team, we’ve got to continue to grow and get better in the areas that we’re not playing to the level that we’re capable of, because those things show up as you go on.
“We need to have some really good practices and get ready for the next one.”
Tennessee is scheduled to practice Tuesday through Thursday before taking the weekend off.
The open date did not exactly start off as down time for Heupel and some of his players, as country music artist Morgan Wallen was accompanied to the stage Sunday night inside a packed Neyland Stadium by Heupel, redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava, sixth-year senior receiver Bru McCoy and legendary Vols quarterback Peyton Manning.
Due to this year’s college football season starting in late August, each team is receiving two open dates. Tennessee’s second open date is Oct. 26, which will be the Saturday in between home contests against Alabama and Kentucky.
The biggest need Tennessee has right now is getting its two starting offensive tackles healthy. Sophomore left tackle Lance Heard has been held out of the last two games, while seventh-year senior right tackle John Campbell Jr. was injured in the first half against the Sooners.
Sixth-year senior Dayne Davis has replaced Heard the past two weeks, while redshirt sophomore Larry Johnson III entered when Campbell went down.
“All in all, I thought the guys who went in for those guys played solid,” Heupel said. “Between the adjustment of our personnel and getting everyone in sync, it took us a little bit, but they played well, and I’m looking forward to having both of those guys back here by the time we get back on the field.”
Iamaleava endured a season-high three sacks at Oklahoma, including one that caused a fumble. He is welcoming this break, adding that there is no area in which he can’t improve.
“I think it’s just everything — the pass protections and seeing defenses better and better as the season keeps going,” Iamaleava said. “I feel like Ive done a good job so far progressing in that.”
Tennessee defenders aren’t complaining about some down time, either, even though they would be just as happy to keep wreaking havoc. The Vols lead the nation in total defense (allowing 176.0 yards a game), while ranking second in rushing defense (50.75), fifth in scoring defense (7.0) and 11th in passing defense (125.25).
“We’re just playing the schedule,” sophomore linebacker Arion Carter said with a smile. “It’s a great opportunity to get guys back healthy and get guys back to 100% or near 100%, because we’ve got another great opponent the week after that.”
Odds and ends
The SEC announced Monday that Tennessee’s game at Arkansas will be at night — either at 7 Eastern on ESPN or 7:30 on ABC. … Tennessee was well-represented in Monday’s weekly SEC honors, with Iamaleava winning the top freshman, junior edge rusher Joshua Josephs the top defensive lineman and redshirt freshman kicker Max Gilbert the top special-teams performer. … The Vols allowed more punt-return yards at Oklahoma (30) than they yielded in their first 42 games under Heupel combined (23).
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.