Tennessee fans are trying everything they can to get DC Tim Banks fired after shootout win over Kentucky

Last season, Tennessee rode its defense and stellar run game to a spot in the College Football Playoff. This season, Josh Heupel has needed 50-point outings and 400-yard games from his quarterback just to beat Kentucky. 

That’s what it took on Saturday night as Joey Aguilar threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns in the Vols’ 56-34 win in Lexington, and Tennessee fans have just about had it with defensive coordinator Tim Banks. 

Last year, when Tennessee had an elite defensive line rotation led by Omarr Norman-Lott and James Pearce Jr., Banks led the defense to rank 4th in the country in EPA/play, second in success rate, and held opponents to 17.2 points per game, eighth best. This season, with Joshua Josephs playing well but nowhere near the depth in the trenches and without top cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III, the Vols have plummeted. 

Tennessee ranks 119th in EPA/play, 155th in success rate, and 108th in scoring defense, allowing 32.9 points per game. The personnel isn’t nearly on the same caliber, but Banks has struggled to adjust. He has to blitz more to get pressure, but because he doesn’t have trustworthy coverage players behind his pressure packages, even Kentucky QB Cutter Boley averaged 15.2 yards per attempt with three touchdowns, one pick, and no sacks. 

Boley finished the game with 362 yards and five touchdowns, a stellar performance from a redshirt freshman who began the year as the backup to journeyman QB Zach Calzada. Whether the issues are with personnel or with coaching, Tennessee fans have been fed up with Banks all season, and if they hadn’t already reached it, Week 9 was the last straw. 

Tennessee fans have a few creative ideas to get rid of Tim Banks

Of course, Vols fans want Banks fired, but if Heupel won’t make that move, they’ll try to force his hand. Public outreach is a good place to start. 

Still, it may take more than that. Maybe a scandal. In the wake of the NBA’s gambling allegations, a few innovative members of Vol nation looked to start an investigation into Banks. 

The movement isn’t just fueled by emotion. The fire Tim Banks crowd has stats to back up their frustrations, and they’re directing them at Tennessee fans that, for some reason, still believe in the defensive coordinator who led a top-five defense just one season ago. 

At 6-2 with losses to Alabama and Georgia, Tennessee is still firmly in the race for the College Football Playoff, but if the defense costs the Vols an at-large bid, that could be the only thing that gets Heupel to move on from his longtime DC.