Tennessee had a top-10 national defense last football season, allowing 16.1 points per game.
The Volunteers don’t even have a top-100 defense right now, having given up at least 17 points every time out and having yielded more than 25 points in each contest against a Bowl Subdivision foe. Their average of 30.7 points allowed per game ranks 110th in the country, with their 390.9 yards allowed barely cracking the top 100 at 96th.
“The talent is there,” Vols senior defensive lineman Jaxson Moi said this week in a news conference. “The brotherhood is there, and the passion is there. It’s time for us to lock in on the little things, because we need to play more fundamentally sound.”
Time is running out for Tennessee’s defense to reclaim its thorough performances from a season ago, when the Vols ranked seventh in scoring defense and sixth in total defense, giving up just 293.2 yards per game. Tennessee is 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Southeastern Conference action with a No. 17 ranking in the Associated Press poll, with the second half of its season continuing at Kentucky (2-4, 0-4) on Saturday (7:45 p.m. on the SEC Network).
The Vols have been stout when it comes to lost-yardage stops, ranking tied for third nationally with 3.71 sacks per game and tied for seventh with 7.71 tackles for loss per contest, and they are tied for 20th nationally with 12 forced turnovers.
“They’re a very good defense that’s very well-coached, and they’re extremely disruptive,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said on Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “It starts up front, where they’re very dominant and very aggressive, and you can say the same about the second level at linebacker and in the back end. You can kind of play downhill when you start up front and have guys coming after the quarterback.
“It kind of starts there, and it lets the second and third levels play equally as aggressive. I think it’s a very good unit, and I’m very impressed by them.”
Tennessee’s defense has been without starting cornerbacks Rickey Gibson III and Jermod McCoy all season, with the exception of a handful of snaps Gibson played in the opening win over Syracuse before getting hurt. Gibson and McCoy have been ruled out for Saturday as well.
The Wildcats have not been impressive offensively this season, ranking 105th in total yards per game (342.2) and 109th in passing yards per game (185.5), but they are coming off last Saturday’s 16-13 overtime loss to Texas in which they amassed 395 yards against a Longhorns defense that gives up an average of 279.1.
“First of all, we’re planning to stop the run,” Vols outside linebackers coach Levorn Harbin said. “They’re a very physical team. They like to get the ball on the edge, and their running backs run hard. Their tight ends and tackles are very physical, and they do a good job with their hands. They’ve got a really good offensive line coach (Eric Wolford) who we’ve been facing. He was at Kentucky, and then went to Alabama and is now back at Kentucky, so we’ve got a lot of respect for him.
“We know we have a challenge ahead in the run game, and then also they do a great job on play-action pass, so we’ve got to do a great job playing the run and then trying to convert on reversing the pass.”
Kentucky is certain to challenge the missed tackling that has plagued Tennessee at times this season, including last week’s 37-20 loss at Alabama.
“In practice we go through drills and key on angles and alignment in how we come in and approach tackles,” Vols sophomore safety Edrees Farooq said. “Kentucky’s run game stands out a lot, so we just need to lock in on our technique. I feel like we have an urge in us to go out there and play better.”
Said Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel of the tackling issues: “With some of them, we’re in a bad body position. With some of them, we just don’t wrap up and ultimately make the play. We have to find a way to get them down and make that play.”
Tennessee announced Thursday that the Vols will wear white jerseys and white pants for a second consecutive Saturday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.