Tennessee football vs. Bowling Green: 10 keys to the game

8. Which defense gets tired first?

Don’t blink in this game. Although the Bowling Green Falcons had an atrocious offense, they did run a fast-paced scheme. Dating back to his days as the Virginia Tech Hokies’ offensive coordinator, Scot Loeffler has always tried to hit the over-70 mark in the number of offensive plays he’s able to run per game.

Here’s what’s crazy about that, though. Loeffler also runs a Power I pro-style offense. True to being a Steve Addazio disciple, his schemes appear more like three yards and a cloud of dust old-school SEC ball. However, he runs them faced-paced.

Josh Heupel is a bit more standard with why he runs tempo. He operates out of the shotgun and just goes full-speed. However, Heupel also likes to rely more on the running game than most tempo-based offenses like his would, even if it’s not a Power I. This will still be a far cry from Tennessee football’s slow offense a year ago.

If both hit over 70 plays and Heupel hits over 80, one defense is going to get tired. Add in the fact that this tempo comes with lots of runs, and the defenses will get real tired. Whichever one can withstand the onslaught the most will be in the best shape by the second half.