Offensive Line
Daniel: In previewing the game I said the offensive line just has to play okay – it doesn’t have to be dominant. It was pretty close to meeting that standard. There was still too much pressure and three sacks were conceded. But that’s an improvement on the seven (two were negated by penalty) that were given up at Oklahoma. And though the final team stats weren’t overly-impressive in the run game, take out the negative yardage for the quarterbacks and the Vols averaged nearly 4.8 yards per carry on the ground. That’ll give this team a chance to win. Still not great overall, but getting better. Grade: C+
Houston: I thought this group took a really nice step forward against UGA. They aren’t elite and they still made some mistakes, but when Worley was in and the UGA defense couldn’t just tee off on blitzes, they did fairly well. They were able to create some running lanes for Jalen Hurd, and Worley had enough time to survey the field on most of his drop backs. They still missed on some assignments and weren’t as consistent as you’d like to see, but playing on the road against a talented Georgia front seven usually lends itself to such things. They will have a big test next weekend with UF’s d-line, but they are improving. Grade: C+
Reed: They gave up too much pressure in passing situations and struggled to pick up delayed blitzes. As bad as they looked at times, this was a bit of a bounce back performance from the young Vol offensive front. They were much better run blocking this week against a tough UGA front-seven. Hurd averaged 5.0 yards per carry and Lane missed a couple of running lanes during his snaps. This group communicated better and there were far fewer complete busts this week. They’re still not good, by any stretch, but they’re trending in the right direction. Grade: C
