COMMENTARY: Tennessee defense never should given up 178 rushing yards to Furman

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Remember folks, this was Furman that Tennessee was playing Saturday.

Furman, as in, FCS contestant Furman. 

The Paladins started a quarterback, Jake Garcia, who spent a year on the Michigan roster last season but never threw a pass and appeared in just one game.

This was a team that rushed for 268 yards against Division II Anderson (S.C.) University last week. The Paladins were able to put up 178 rushing yards against the Tennessee defense, actually 217, not counting the 39 yards lost on six sacks and other TFLs.

Tennessee covered the spread thanks to a botched PAT (46.5 points), 56-9, but left a measure of doubt about the state of its defensive revival.

For a team like Tennessee, with hopes of standing its ground against the big boys on the schedule, allowing that many yards is not a good number for a team you’re paying $500,000 to show up to generate.

Lurking behind the 43 net passing yards Furman managed were a whole lot of drops by receivers that had a way of killing drives.

No only did Furman’s Isaiah Davis rush for 116 yards, but his 23-yard touchdown run was an explosive play that likely kept Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles up late Saturday night.

Besides that gallop, Davis also had a 34-yard burst, Jerrod Williams had a 20-yard splash and Garcia made 17 on a broken play.

Getting gashed so often by an FCS team is a painfully difficult problem that will need to be addressed over the next few days.

Georgia Tech ain’t Furman. Don’t count on Xavier Gilliam manhandling the Yellowjackets’ offensive line like he did en route to three sacks against Furman.

Unlike the Paladins, Georgia Tech is pulling its players from the same pool as Tennessee. Even though the Yellowjackets looked miserable in their loss to Colorado last week, their fire is going to be lit for Tennessee. This will be their time to prove that the dismal performance was the exception rather than the rule.

Garcia wouldn’t be in the same stratosphere as most of the quarterbacks Tennessee is going to face this season. Allowing Furman the opportunity to come up with more explosive plays than it deserves is an indictment of the Volunteer defense.

The coordinator may have changed but the lack of containment hasn’t. When Gilliam and linebacker Amare Campbell, both Penn State transfers, share the lead in tackles with six each, it’s an indication there hasn’t been one defender taking over the bulk of the work.

Gilliam’s five tackles for loss, which include his three sacks, show that he had his way with whoever the Paladins assigned to block him. It’s not realistic that he will enjoy the same dominance this week. 

It’s gotta get better by next week or the honeymoon could be over in a hurry for Jim Knowles.

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