Josh Heupel might need to start looking for another DC

Tennessee is entering its second bye week with a 6-1 record, and so far, the main man to thank for that is Vol defensive coordinator Tim Banks. The defense has yet to allow more than 19 points in a game this year, and even with Veteran LB Keenan Pili out for the year with an injury, they showed no signs of a drop-off against a capable Alabama offense. Don’t let anyone in the national media try to tell you that Alabama is another subpar offense either. 3 weeks ago Jalen Milroe was the Heisman frontrunner coming off the heels of their home win against Georgia, and Ryan Williams was being anointed as the 2nd coming of Randy Moss. What Tennessee did to Alabama defensively on Saturday night was nothing short of a masterclass, and Tim Banks is the professor.

There is no question now that this defense is elite. You are elite when you are over halfway through the season and have allowed one 1st half TD. When you rank 4th in the country in scoring defense you are elite, When you rank 2nd in the country in rushing defense you are elite. When you rank 4th in the country in total defense you are elite. The only bad thing about the defense so far this year is that with it being this great it probably means Tim Banks will be a top candidate for some head coaching vacancies. For a long time, no one in the country was interested in Tennessee coordinators for head coaching jobs, but this is commonplace when you have a good program. Josh Heupel needs to go ahead and start looking for replacements at DC in my book. Either that or plead with Danny White to back up the Brink’s truck to Tim’s front door.