Tennessee Football: 5-1 with everything still on the table

Tennessee football secured its third win over Florida since the iPhone was created on Saturday night, but many Tennessee fans still have concerns. Most of which are valid in my eyes. Will the O-line gel and improve before it’s too late? Will Nico overcome his struggles so far and be the quarterback we all want him to be? Can Josh Heupel find a way to get the offense humming again to better complement the Brickhouse defense Tennessee has enjoyed so far? We can monitor these questions as the Vols move into the second half of the season but for as ugly as the game was against the Gators, I’m still taking the glass-half-full approach.

The main positive for me was the resolve that Tennessee showed. It would have been easy for the defense to get discouraged when the offense struggled. It would have been easy for the team to get down on themselves when Florida tied it with less than a minute to go. However, the defense stepped up throughout the game with big stops and turnovers, and the team dominated in OT. Tennessee fans have seen that type of game go against Tennessee for years (especially against Florida), but the Vols persevered and came out on top. You can't talk about the yearly struggles with Florida and not give them credit for winning a dogfight against them.

Furthermore, for as terrible as the offense was in the first half, Heupel made adjustments that led to 17 straight points and the game-winning TD in OT. That isn’t to say everything is fine, but at least against the Gators, Heupel made the adjustments needed that won Tennessee the game. Heupel got Nico out of the pocket and it led to success in the passing game. Heupel went under center for 2 of the 3 TDs including the game-winner. Again, plenty more work needs to be done to get the offense to a playoff level, but the issues are fixable. We have to remember that this is the first time under Heupel that he doesn’t have an upperclassman playing QB. The further we get into the season Nico should get more comfortable, and hopefully that leads to a more cohesive and effective offense across the board.

We all know how good this Tennessee defense has been but against the Gators they truly kept the Vols afloat. Rather you want to talk about the James Pearce forced fumble on the goal line, the Arion Carter interception in the third quarter, or the Rickey Gibson tackle on 4th and inches, this defense made play after play throughout the game. It all culminated with them stifling Florida on 3 straight plays in OT that led to a long FG attempt that the Gators missed. Not enough can be said about how good this unit has been and to this point they are the best defense Tennessee has had in a long time.

Does Tennessee have a lot of improvement to make to compete for the playoffs? Absolutely. Is Tennessee 5-1 with everything still ahead of them with a chance to defeat another hated rival at home this weekend? Also yes.