Tennessee football: Five encouraging signs for Vols despite 0-2 start
1. The 0-2 start is due to very few issues, and all are correctable.
Think about this for a second. If Ty Chandler doesn’t fumble on the opening drive against the Georgia State Panthers, and if Jarrett Guarantano doesn’t throw that interception against the BYU Cougars, not only is Tennessee football 2-0, but there are no concerns about the state of the Vols at this point.
UT would have dominated GSU were it not for that fumble early that single-handedly kept them in the game. And we know that they would have beaten BYU by two-scores were it not for that Guarantano pick.
On the other hand, if the interior blocking was where it should be, they would have scored touchdowns on two other drives against Georgia State to have a commanding lead, and they would have also had two more touchdowns against BYU. So, again, they would be 2-0.
The Vols have three specific issues right now that have caused them to be 2-0: interior blocking is struggling, turnover margin is an issue, and Jarrett Guarantano has missed too many open guys. However, we’ve already covered the reason for the interior blocking issues, and all evidence points to the fact that it will improve.
Meanwhile, the secondary had three new starters, and the Vols were without their signal-caller in Daniel Bituli for two games. That explains why the defense had issues with turnovers, so the development of those players and Bituli’s return will help that.
Finally, Guarantano’s issues contribute to the mistakes and turnovers on offense. But he’s one bad interception and one late pass away from having five touchdowns and one interception through two games. So there’s reason to believe he’ll improve on that as well.
Next. Tennessee-Chattanooga: 10 keys to the game. dark
Despite all the returning talent on this year’s team, we forget that Tennessee football still had lots of young guys that need to develop. And they were hit with specific injuries that hindered their development. Those things are improving, and as a result, the Vols should begin to improve. They already did so dramatically from Week One to Week Two.