In last Thursday night's 38-6 dismantling of Bowling Green inside Neyland Stadium, the Tennessee defense allowed two lengthy field goals and just two snaps inside its red zone.
Who knows how the Volunteers would have performed had they brought their "A" game?
"We can do better than what we showed," senior cornerback Alontae Taylor said this week in a news conference. "I would probably give ourselves a C-minus. We left a lot of plays out there on the field in the secondary, and I feel like we could have tackled a little better.
"We did a good job of stopping the run game, but whenever they went to the passing game, I feel like we could have done better."
In a college football era when wide-open, pass-happy attacks are becoming more and more prevalent, the timeworn objective of establishing the run and stopping the run is still quite desired. The inferior Falcons of the Mid-American Conference did top the Vols through the air by a 187-144 yardage margin, but that hardly combated the 331-32 advantage Tennessee enjoyed on the ground.
If the C-minus opinion from Taylor seems a bit harsh, first-year defensive coordinator Tim Banks admits he grades on a hard scale.
"I was pleased with the way we played in terms of effort," Banks said. "That's the first thing we talk about, as cliche as it may sound. I thought we minimized the mistakes, but we had some. We have some things we've got to fix to play at a higher level.
"Overall, we played a pretty clean game."
Banks is still a bit hesitant when it comes to heaping praise on specific players, though he did admit senior safety Theo Jackson played hard and was productive in his 11-tackle performance. He feels good about the direction of his unit, though he knows this Saturday's test against visiting Pittsburgh (noon on ESPN) will provide a much more accurate gauge.
In his five seasons as Penn State's co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2016-20, Banks faced Pitt four times and schemed against current Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett in 2018-19.
"They look like all the teams we've seen in the past," Banks said. "Our kids understand it's going to be a great challenge with these guys rolling in here, and we're going to have to put our best foot forward to have a chance to come out victorious."
Loving it loud
Fifth-year senior defensive lineman Caleb Tremblay, the graduate transfer from Southern California, had two tackles, one quarterback hurry and shared a lost-yardage stop in his Tennessee debut. The 6-foot-5, 280-pounder was asked this week how his first Neyland experience compared to USC home games.
"I don't want to slander SC too hard, but I think the biggest thing was just how loud it was," Tremblay said. "Every third down, everybody was on their feet going crazy, and those are big things when you're playing the game. It brings a lot of energy to the defense, and experiencing it was really cool."
Nervous opener
Freshman Jaylen Wright of Durham, North Carolina, was the third running back to receive carries in the opener behind the 100-yard rushing tandem of sophomore Jabari Small and junior-college transfer Tiyon Evans. The 5-11, 200-pounder had four carries for 14 yards and seemed a bit antsy to both head coach Josh Heupel and running backs coach Jerry Mack.
"It was a little uncharacteristic of the Jaylen Wright I saw in camp, especially the back half of camp," Mack said. "A lot of times when you get these young freshmen in there and they get excited and the adrenaline starts pumping in Neyland Stadium - he just got a little anxious."
Said Heupel: "I'm expecting him to have a big game on Saturday."
Here come recruits
Having the Southeastern Conference spotlight last Thursday was a unique opportunity for the Vols, but they couldn't capitalize when it came to recruits attending the game.
"Thursday nights are tough for recruiting," Heupel said. "You've got (high school) games that are coming up on Friday. A lot of them have things that they're doing on Thursday nights, just as they're preparing for a game, and then some are playing on Thursday night, too.
"We weren't able to have anybody in, so we're looking forward to our program being able to have guys in here this Saturday. It'll be our first opportunity to really host guys here for a game-day environment."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.