Perhaps it was a one-time thing.
Then again, perhaps Tennessee is in the early stages of resembling last year’s offense.
In Saturday night’s 37-20 loss at Alabama, the Volunteers only had one completion in excess of 20 yards, with that being the 30-yard strike from Joey Aguilar to Braylon Staley to the Crimson Tide 2-yard line early in the second quarter. Aguilar would throw for 268 yards, which was only 12 yards off his season average, but it was the first game with a lack of aerial explosives for Tennessee.
“Some of that was just the structure of what they were playing,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Monday during his weekly news conference. “They were in an inverted-two coverage with corners high and soft. That was going to limit us, and it’s why some of the stuff in the middle area was really good for us.
“Ultimately, though, we have got to find a way to create more explosives.”
The No. 17 Volunteers, who are 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Southeastern Conference play, are having to turn the page from their loss in Tuscaloosa and get prepared for this Saturday night’s journey (7:45 on the SEC Network) to Kentucky. The Wildcats are 2-4 overall and 0-4 in league play, having lost nine consecutive conference contests dating back to last season.
In Tennessee’s SEC opener against Georgia on Sept. 13, Aguilar connected with Chris Brazzell II for touchdown tosses of 72 and 56 yards, and he also had a 32-yard scoring strike to Staley. Aguilar had completions of 39 yards to Mike Matthews, 32 to Brazzell and 26 to Staley on Sept. 27 at Mississippi State, and he had completions of 42 yards to Staley, 27 to Matthews and 23 to tight end Miles Kitselman on Oct. 11 against Arkansas.
Last year’s Vols rode the legs of SEC offensive player of the year Dylan Sampson to a 10-2 record and a berth in the inaugural 12 team College Football Playoff, and they recently turned to redshirt sophomore DeSean Bishop to provide more of the same. The 5-foot-10, 208-pounder from Knoxville had 14 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown against the Razorbacks and added 14 rushes for 123 yards and two scores in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“He made a couple of elite cuts the other night in making people miss to have extended long runs,” Heupel said. “He has done a really good job of pressing it. DeSean is the same competitor every single day, and you know exactly what you’re getting from him.
“Guys who do that continue to get better, and that’s been DeSean’s journey in college football and in this season, too.”
Bishop’s 44-yard run early in the third quarter, which featured one of those elite cuts, pulled Tennessee within 23-13 and served as the longest play of the night for the Vols.
“We’ve gotten a lot of different defensive structures,” Bishop said Monday. “In the Arkansas game, we saw four down (linemen) and three down. We’re getting a lot of looks thrown at us to try and throw us off our groove. The running game is doing its thing now, but we’re going to run the ball against whatever we see, and we’re going to throw the ball against whatever we see.
“When the ball is in my hand, I’m going to do what I need to do. I believe more teams are scheming for me, so I’m preparing to see what that looks like.”
Aguilar all good
Aguilar had a busy night in Bryant-Denny, completing 28 of 44 passes and rushing four times for 13 yards. He was also sacked four times.
Heupel was asked Monday about Aguilar’s health.
“Obviously Joey took a couple of hits, but he’ll be ready to go this Saturday,” he said.
Bishop believes Aguilar’s performance against Alabama only added to the respect teammates have for him.
“If y’all haven’t figured out, Joey is a dog,” Bishop said. “That dude takes a beating at times, especially with the style he runs, because he doesn’t slide a lot. That dude fights, and he loves fighting for us.”
Gentle package
Tennessee used redshirt freshman defensive end and former McCallie School standout Carson Gentle as a blocking back to seal the win over Arkansas and employed the 6-3, 256-pounder three times during Saturday’s first half. The Vols put Gentle in motion in all three instances, running behind him twice for first downs and using him as a decoy on the half’s final play, when he went in motion to the left side before Aguilar threw to the right to Kitselman and was intercepted by Zabien Brown.
“He’s somebody we’ve been working there since training camp,” Heupel said. “He’s got a natural feel for it, and he experienced doing some of that in high school as well.”
Penalty problem
The Vols have gone consecutive games committing 10 penalties.
Tennessee’s first play against Alabama was an 8-yard completion from Aguilar to Brazzell, but Wendell Moe Jr. then was flagged for a false start, turning a second-and-2 into a second-and-7 that ultimately led to a punt.
“Some of those come from the details of what we’re doing,” Heupel said. “There were a couple of things with our alignments, and it’s what you’re doing every day in every single drill. You put all of that together, and when you have a penalty, it obviously makes it tougher.
“When you give them a first-and-5, it changes the way the game is played. When you have a second-and-15, it changes the way the game is played. We showed them and talked about that today.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.