Everybody is talking about the dates for SEC games since the league released the 2022 schedule for every team Tuesday night. However, when it comes to Tennessee football, the real story is a major non-conference switch the Vols made.
UT was initially slated to face the Army Black Knights in 2022 on Sept. 17, a date that was marked back when Dave Hart was athletic director. However, it was well-documented that the Vols were trying to get out of that game. They appear to have pulled it off.
The slate shows Tennessee football hosting the Akron Zips on that day now. Akron is the second MAC team Tennessee football will face, as the Vols open the season Sept. 3 agains the Ball State Cardinals. Their other non-conference games are at the Pittsburgh Panthers Sept. 10 and at home against the UT Martin Skyhawks on Oct. 22.
Make no mistake, this was a brilliant move for the Vols to get out of this game. There’s nothing wrong with playing solid Group of Five programs, but Army would have been sandwiched between Pitt and the Vols’ Sept. 24 SEC opener, which will once again be against the Florida Gators.
Army runs the triple-option under Jeff Monken, and they run it well. Monken has built a consistent winner there, including going 11-2 in 2018 and 9-3 last year. His triple-option can be extremely tough to stop. The 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide’s worst defensive performance was against the Georgia Southern Eagles that year, which Monken coached at the time.
Simply put, preparing for the triple-option in between games against Power Five programs is way too difficult a task when you already have to navigate the SEC. Scheduling Army made no sense for Tennessee football in that regard.
All you have to do is go back to 2006 to know that. The Vols beat the Cal Golden Bears in a blowout to open the season. However, the next week, they faced the Air Force Falcons, who also ran the triple-option, and they barely held on 31-30.
In the process, UT lost Justin Harrell, its best defensive tackle, for the season. Inky Johnson, their best cornerback, suffered a career-ending injury in that game as well. The Vols lost 21-20 to Florida the next week. It was a game that cost them the East.
You can also go to 2017, when the Vols held on to beat Paul Johnson’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 42-41 in double overtime to open the season. Now, they did get to face the Indiana State Sycamores the next week, but that game saw Jauan Jennings suffer a season-ending injury, and the injury bug continued to bite all year as they stumbled to a 4-8 season.
Facing the triple-option has never fared well for Rocky Top. Even in their heyday under Phillip Fulmer, they never even looked like they belonged on the same field when the faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Kansas State Wildcats. It’s just not something they do. As a result, bailing on this game was smart.
After Florida, Tennessee football will have a bye before visiting the LSU Tigers, its one rotating foe from the West, and then hosting the Alabama Crimson Tide. Following UT Martin, they will host the Kentucky Wildcats, visit the Georgia Bulldogs and host the Missouri Tigers. They’ll finish the year with two games on the road: The South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores.