How Tennessee football has been so good and so bad in red zone. It changes at 10-yard line

Tennessee football’s red-zone issues on offense only involve half the red zone.

In SEC games only, the Vols rank No. 12 in red-zone scoring percentage (71%) and No. 8 in red-zone touchdown percentage (57%) among 16 teams.

At face value, that’s a big problem.

But dig deeper, and there appears to be a line of demarcation separating UT’s weakness and strength. Specifically, it’s the 10-yard line.

The Vols have scored a touchdown in 92% of their trips inside the 10-yard line, where their strong ground game bulldozed opponents.

But piercing the 10-yard line has been difficult, as 38% of their red-zone trips ended between the 10 and 20-yard lines. They stalled because of penalties, turnovers and a passing game that has struggled in that condensed area.

“Everything gets tighter down there,” coach Josh Heupel said. “Self-inflicted wounds always hurt you, but they hurt you even more down there because the windows are tighter if you’re throwing the football and the bodies are tighter in the run game.

“We’ve got to execute at a higher level.”

No. 6 Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC) plays Mississippi State (2-7, 0-5) on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Neyland Stadium.

The Vols need to solve their red-zone problem before facing No. 2 Georgia on Nov. 16 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). But the problem is only half as big as it appears on a box score.

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Why Tennessee is so good inside 10-yard line

Inside the 10-yard line, Tennessee has been almost unstoppable. It has scored a touchdown in 11 of 12 trips there in SEC games.

The ground attack has been the catalyst, as the Vols have leaned heavily on Dylan Sampson, the SEC’s rushing and scoring leader.

They have run 13 rushing plays and only four pass plays inside the 10-yard line in SEC games with wildly successful…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tennessee-football-good-bad-red-150042250.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-11-05 15:00:42

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