Vols Can’t Afford To Look Past South Alabama

Sep 21, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Alton Howard (2) is congratulated by quarterback Justin Worley (14) after he caught the ball for a touchdown during the second half against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida Gators defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 31-17. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

After suffering back-to-back road losses and with a three-game stretch coming up that includes games against Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, it would be very easy for the Vols to look past South Alabama this Saturday.

Tennessee can’t afford to start thinking about Georgia, smokey gray jerseys and a possible night game at Neyland Stadium. South Alabama doesn’t present the challenge that the university a couple hours north of Mobile does, but they are a good team that can’t be overlooked.

South Alabama is coming off two straight wins, including a win over Western Kentucky and a 41 point performance against Tulane (a team Florida only managed 24 points against). As Butch Jones said on Monday, they won’t feel sorry for the Vols.

"You have South Alabama coming in here not feeling sorry for us. They had a bye week, they had an extra week of preparation. Defensively – athletic, physical, very aggressive, bring a lot of pressure and they play very good team defense. Very well-coached football team. With their discipline, with their fundamentals."

South Alabama’s offense could provide an unexpected challenge for the Vols, something Butch Jones is well aware of.

"Offensively, their quarterbacks they like to run the quarterback. They have a good uptempo in their offense and they try to get the ball on the edges. They do a great job of their play calling, screens, and running the ball at you and deep play action balls when you are coming up. We have to do a great job, we have to be ready for anything and everything come Saturday."

Tennessee has struggled against running quarterbacks this season. Fortunately for the Vols this game won’t feature the discrepancy in speed that Tennessee dealt with against Oregon and Florida.

Regardless, the Volunteers will have to do a better job of setting the edge and containing Brandon Bridge, the better runner of the two South Alabama quarterbacks. Bridge has rushed for 101 yards this season, while playing behind Ross Metheny.

Metheny is a plenty capable rusher as well, he ran for 75 yards on 11 carries against Tulane.

Tennessee has to prepare for this game just as they would a game against Florida or Georgia.

A lot of the talk surrounding the Volunteers right now is centered around the quarterback situation. I expect Worley to indeed be the starter on Saturday, but I know we all want to see Riley Ferguson in the game. I’m sure the coaching staff wants to see what they have in him as well, in a real game situation.

It’ll be important for the Vols to focus on winning the game first, and worrying about their quarterback situation second. Butch Jones does a good job of seeing the big picture, realizing that this is a long-season and a season where the Volunteers will do a lot of growing.

Jones isn’t going to figure it all out this year. He’s still very much in the process of building this program. But if the Vols were to lose to South Alabama on Saturday, the program would take a major step back.

Vol fans have taken too many steps back the past few seasons. I wouldn’t count on Tennessee taking another step back on Saturday. Jones will have his team focused and ready to take on an underrated South Alabama team.

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