Tennessee football: Five areas of improvement for Vols after second bye

4. Consistency on the defensive line

Yes, they have improved dramatically. The emergence of Greg Emerson along with Aubrey Solomon getting into rhythm has been huge, and Darel Middleton’s size is a major advantage. Tennessee football has a lot of help here, and that bodes well for the future. But they are still not consistent when it comes to getting a push.

Against the Kentucky Wildcats, the Vols allowed over 300 yards on the ground. Yes, they could not throw the ball at all with Lynn Bowden Jr. and only threw it seven times. And when he did throw it, he only got 25 yards on the day while also having a bad interception. So the secondary was elite even while they didn’t need to be.

But knowing they couldn’t throw it, Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley should have had a much easier time shutting down the offense. They shouldn’t have needed three fourth down stops late and allowed two early touchdowns. It all came down to the defensive line, though, as they could not get a consistent push.

So while this unit improves, and it has done so for a while, the dominance up front is still not there. On the edges, Matthew Butler, Ja’Quain Blakely and LaTrell Bumphus have begun to emerge. But the push in the middle is not yet consistent, and they need to spend this bye week getting back into shape to make sure that happens. A good push will be necessary at the Missouri Tigers.