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Tennessee football: Vols defense finally rewarded for hard work

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football’s win over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles wasn’t pretty. But the Volunteers defense finally won a game for its efforts.

Until its win over Southern Miss, Tennessee football was 3-5 on the year. And they had lost four of five games with their only win being a 17-13 victory over the UMASS Minutemen.

Simply put, the Vols had been looking ugly for a while. However, one caveat to that was the fact that it was mostly on the offense.

The defense had been fighting its guts out to win games. And too often they came short. Whether Quinten Dormady or Jarrett Guarantano was starting, the defense would eventually come apart due to lack of offensive support.

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Sure, they gave up over 40 points to the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. But that’s because both units wore down the offense to the point that the defense had nothing to play for.

This game was different.

Will McBride being quarterback was no spark for the Vols. But the defense with the help of John Kelly was finally able to earn that victory.

Up 10-3 to open the second half, it’s nobody’s surprise that the Tennessee football defense made the necessary plays.

The shocker is the offense capitalized.

In back to back drives, the Vols forced two turnovers. Emmanuel Moseley got an interception while Darrell Taylor forced a fumble that Rashaan Gaulden recovered.

Both times, Kelly capitalized by scoring touchdowns to give Tennessee football a 24-3 lead. As a result, after playing hard all year, the Vols’ defense finally got to see its hard work pay off.

In the end, Tennessee football’s defense capitalized one more time with a huge 4th and 1 stop to win the game. It was on a quarterback sneak, making it that much more impressive.

The offense is still a disaster with Butch Jones and Larry Scott. But the defense under Bob Shoop, despite giving up some untimely big plays, has finally proven itself As a result, the unit deserves credit. Tennessee may be 4-5 and 0-5 in the SEC. That’s all bad news. But the defense on Saturday was good news.

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