Tennessee football: 5 UMass Minutemen to watch for vs. Vols

As important as Adam Breneman is to the UMass Minutemen if they want to give Tennessee football trouble, the guy who will be responsible for getting Breneman the ball is going to be more important to the team.

Andrew Ford is starting to thrive in Mark Whipple’s system, and if he could just stop getting sacked so much, this team would be winning ballgames.

The guy has completed 90 of 140 attempts for a completion rate of 64.3 percent through four games. On top of that, he has 1,204 passing yards and six touchdowns with only one interception.

In case you can’t do the math, yes, he’s averaging exactly 301 yards a game at this point. Ford has to be feeling some sort of confidence after a horrible quarterback like Feleipe Franks was able to give the Vols trouble in the fourth quarter last week.

Yes, he’s better than Franks. Last year, he threw for 2,665 yards and 26 touchdowns. Sure, he did have 14 interceptions.

But the guy looks better this year, with only one interception through four games. Ford to Breneman with Andy Isabella as a dangerous guy on the outside could make for enough of an offense to give the Vols hell if they’re not careful.

Next: 4 things Butch Jones should have to do to keep his job

And they need to pay attention of that not just to put UMass away on time but to actually win the game. Otherwise, Tennessee football fans will be feeling even worse about Butch Jones than they are right now after his horrendous coaching against the Florida Gators.