Tennessee's Defense Shines Amid Offensive Struggles

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00:00So when they, when you were playing in Norman and you're calling the game and you see their

00:06struggles with their quarterbacks and their offense, were you surprised at their weakness?

00:13I mean, they got, they got serious issues.

00:15I know they're not your problems, but you had to have seen it and you got a young quarterback

00:19as well.

00:20Uh, what was it like seeing their problems?

00:23Well, you could tell that they were limited offensively, but you know, Tennessee still

00:29One of the strengths of this team is its defense.

00:31The front seven has just been tremendous all season.

00:35Uh, Scott, when you watch Tennessee play defensively, it's like watching a hockey game because they

00:40roll those defensive linemen out like it's a hockey shift.

00:44They'll play three or four plays and here come four fresh guys in.

00:47And that's really been an advantage for Tennessee, especially in the second half of these tight

00:51games that they're fresh and still being able to pressure the quarterback.

00:56It was obvious that Oklahoma was struggling offensively to, to move the ball, but Tennessee

01:01obviously didn't help them very much either.

01:03I mean, Tennessee's defense was really good that day.

01:05So you kind of chalk that up to Tennessee win because of defense, but the struggles

01:11for Tennessee have continued on offense and they're winning games in the twenties now.

01:16And when we around here, the first three years of Josh Hypel, we're used to Tennessee scoring

01:2150 points in a game that's, that's not happening right now.

01:24So tell me about the Florida game, uh, Florida had you dead to rights in Knoxville and you

01:31end up beating them in overtime.

01:33What happened there?

01:34Well, uh, same thing that Tennessee had gone back to the running game to grab the lead

01:40and then Florida lost their quarterback.

01:42Uh, Florida had dominated the first half and then Tennessee was able to come back and get

01:48the lead.

01:49And then, uh, when the Graham Mertz, the Florida quarterback went out, the whole game changed.

01:53He went out with that leg injury and then the whole thing changed because Florida had

01:56to go to, to the freshman quarterback lagway, who's a very talented player, right?

02:01But he's very inexperienced, but he led him down the field.

02:04And uh, at the end of the game with under a minute to go through a bullet for a touchdown.

02:09Uh, I think Florida at first was going to go for two, uh, to take the lead and with

02:15about 29 seconds left, but then Tennessee called a quick timeout and then Florida decided

02:20to kick the extra point, go to overtime.

02:24And then Tennessee's defense at Florida going backwards, Florida missed a long field goal.

02:27And then Tennessee just went to Sampson and they just marched it down the field to win

02:31an overtime.

02:32But that was a tough game and it was a really difficult game for Tennessee to win.

02:36And then this past week against Alabama, those are always slug fests.

02:40I mean, you go back down, they played 107 times, Scott.

02:43So they, you know, they've been battling for a long, long time against each other.

02:47And, uh, again, Tennessee did a really good job on Jalen Milrow who is, Milrow is the

02:52big star of the Alabama offense.

02:55He runs the ball more than anybody on that team and Tennessee held him to 14 carries

03:00in 11 yards.

03:01And that was really a key and they pressured him.

03:04So, uh, you know, he threw under 50%, I think, uh, from the field and just wasn't very effective

03:09in Tennessee's defense.

03:11I think in the second half, especially put a lot of pressure on Milrow and Alabama made

03:15some mistakes, you know, through a couple of interceptions, missing field goals.

03:19And, uh, that, you know, it could have been a different game, but then Tennessee opening

03:23drive of the game, uh, Tennessee takes it down the field and, uh, Dylan Sampson fumbles

03:28his first fumble all year and, uh, that stopped at Tennessee drive.

03:32So neither team played really clean football in the game, but Tennessee figured out a way

03:36to win it.

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