Tennessee football vs. BYU: 10 keys for Vols and Cougars

7. Vols’ size advantage against BYU back seven

We mentioned Dominick Wood-Anderson as a key player for this reason. No BYU Cougars linebacker who is in the rotation weighs more than 226 pounds, and as a receiving tight end, Wood-Anderson comes in at 6’4″ 257 pounds. Who is going to be able to guard him unless you move a defensive lineman out there?

Meanwhile, none of the defensive backs who are in the rotation weigh more than 200 pounds. And Tennessee football has three big receivers in Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway and Josh Palmer. So can Jim Chaney and the Vols finally cash in on these gigantic mismatches that should favor them dramatically?

If they can, even though they didn’t do it consistently last week, then the season could get back on track against BYU. But, again, the Vols would have to do what they failed to get going last week, even though they showed flashes, and BYU would have to wilt a bit with its pass defense, which Kalani Sitake’s unit did not do last week.

As a result, we have no way of knowing how this will unfold. Ideally, Chaney would want to use the size of his receivers and tight end to his advantage with a deep, vertical passing attack. BYU shouldn’t be able to handle it.

Yes, that’s where the pass rush comes into play again. But Jarrett Guarantano’s receivers should be big enough to just jump up and win 50-50 balls in this one. Whether or not they can is another big key to this game.