Tennessee football fell at Georgia 31-17 on Saturday night as the Bulldogs handed the Vols their second loss of the season and all but eliminated them from the SEC Championship race.
If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Chattanooga grades.
Let’s see how the Vols graded out.
Elite grade = 90-100, All-Conference = 85-89, Starter = 70-84, Backup = 60-69, Replaceable = 60 >
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Offensive Grades (minimum 14 plays — 20% of offensive plays)
TE Miles Kitselman — 76.6 (43 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 70.0 (56 plays)
RB Peyton Lewis — 62.5 (18 plays)
TE Holden Staes — 58.2 (38 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 58.0 (74 plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 57.7 (67 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 57.4 (74 plays)
QB Nico Iamaleava — 56.9 (74 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 55.4 (52 plays)
LG Andrej Karic — 53.0 (74 plays)
WR Chris Brazzell — 52.8 (42 plays)
RT John Campbell Jr — 48.0 (43 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 45.0 (30 plays)
RT Dayne Davis — 45.0 (31 plays)
LT Lance Heard — 44.1 (74 plays)
Let’s start with the most noticeable thing, three of Tennessee’s four lowest graded offensive players were its three offensive tackles that played. Not that the interior offensive linemen earned great grades but they were much better than the tackles.
Miles Kitselman turned in another strong game both as a receiver and as a blocker. Dylan Sampson and Peyton Lewis both ran the ball well too though Lewis earned a horrid 8.5 pass block grade.
Tennessee didn’t rotate its receivers nearly as much in this game with just four playing 20% of the snaps. Chas Nimrod played 13 snaps while Mike Matthews played six snaps.
Defensive Grades (minimum 14 snaps — 20% of defensive plays)
DT Jaxson Moi — 92.3 (20 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr — 75.2 (41 plays)
DE Jayson Jenkins — 71.3 (19 plays)
S Will Brooks — 68.7 (49 plays)
S Christian Charles — 66.9 (27 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 64.5 (18 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 64.0 (20 plays)
LEO Josh Josephs — 64.0 (36 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 63.5 (36 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 62.9 (66 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 62.4 (24 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 61.5 (29 plays)
CB Jermod McCoy — 60.6 (63 plays)
CB Jalen McMurray — 59.9 (16 plays)
LB Arion Carter — 59.0 (62 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 59.0 (34 plays)
LB Kalib Perry — 58.6 (25 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 58.2 (46 plays)
DE Tyre West — 54.8 (19 plays)
STAR Boo Carter — 54.0 (40 plays)
LB Jalen Smith — 53.1 (40 plays)
It was the worst game of the season for Tennessee’s defense and the PFF grades bear it out with only three total players earning a grade north of 70.
Jermod McCoy earned his second lowest grade of the season in this game. He’s earned three of his four lowest grades of the season in his last three games.
Three of Tennessee’s defense’s five lowest graded defenders were linebackers and they were particularly bad in pass defense as Georgia’s tight ends had a field day.
