Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top five Vols from 34-3 Florida loss

Starting next to Henry To’oTo’o is Tennessee football’s veteran inside linebacker, their best defensive playmaker, and he did everything he could to help the Vols win on Saturday. Daniel Bituli’s absence was definitely felt in UT’s first two games against the Georgia State Panthers and the BYU Cougars.

However, there has been marked improvement with his return and To’oTo’o’s development. And they worked together on the biggest play of the day for UT that should have given them a chance to tie the game early. Down 7-0 in the first, Bituli was the guy to force the fumble on a strip-sack in Florida territory that To’oTo’o recovered.

Also, Bituli tied with To’oTo’o for the team-leader in tackles with eight. But he also had two sacks and that forced fumble. As a result, he was a superstar performer and exactly what you wanted to see out of your senior inside linebacker. Again, he was trying to make up for the lack of a push the defensive line was getting on its own.

Much of the defense played hard on Saturday and tried to do its part to win. Bituli was a huge reason for that, as he was an anchor for their big plays. If Tennessee football is going to turn things around after the bye, Jeremy Pruitt will need him to keep doing that. He was definitely the top performer in this game.