Biggest Areas Vols Need to Improve in 2018

Explosive Plays

The Vols’ offense was just a complete mess last year, and a lot of that had to do with both the offensive line and Tennessee’s inability to create big plays.

Tennessee gave up the third-most sacks per game last season, and that directly contributed to their lack of explosive plays on offense. The Vols’ quarterbacks rarely had time to look downfield and were either sacked, hurried into an incompletion or interception, or had to throw to a check down receiver for a small gain. Tennessee’s run game also was hurt by the poor play of the offensive line.

All in all, Tennessee’s offense was one of the least explosive in college football last year.

The Vols tied with Florida for the fewest play of 20 or more yards from scrimmage in 2017 with just 38 such plays, and the Gators played just 11 games. Only four other teams in all of the FBS — UTEP, Rutgers, Ball State, and Old Dominion — had fewer explosive plays than Tennessee last year.

Tennessee had one of the most explosive offenses in the country in 2016 when they racked up 79 plays of 20 or more yards. Only Alabama had more in the SEC, and that total was good enough to tie for the 19th-most in the FBS. Last year was a completely different story, however.