Tennessee football vs. WVU: Vols and Mountaineers keys to the game

7. Will West Virginia be able to run the ball?

Dana Holgorsen runs the air raid offense with the West Virginia Mountaineers. Given Tennessee football’s issues, they’ll be looking to throw the ball all over the field with Will Grier in this game. That’s a fair assessment to make.

However, last year, WVU had one of the worst rushing attacks in all of college football. Sure, Justin Crawford was solid, averaging five and a half yards a carry. But as a whole, the team barely averaged over four yards a carry. It was awful.

In this game, the Vols will likely come up with a few defensive quirks to stop West Virginia’s passing attack, or at least slow it down. They have the talent to knock it off its rhythm at certain points, and that’s dangerous for Holgorsen.

It will all be for nothing, though, if the Vols can’t stop the run on top of that. Sure, West Virginia has a bad rush offense. But Tennessee’s transition to a 3-4 is going to make things difficult on the inside linebackers. So Daniel Bituli and Darrin Kirkland Jr. need to step up there.

Also, the Vols don’t necessarily have the right size at nose tackle to run the 3-4. Shy Tuttle and Alexis Johnson are the two starters up front along with Kyle Phillips at end. None of those guys bring the size Kahlil McKenzie would’ve brought. As a result, this team has a legitimate reason to worry about stopping West Virginia’s rushing attack.

WVU could probably beat Tennessee through the air. But if things go awry, it would be good for them to establish the run and take advantage of these questions. Just running enough to keep the Vols defense honest will work.