What Does Tennessee Bring to Charlotte?

Saturday night in Charlotte, Tennessee brings their high-powered offense to town to take on NC State in a much-anticipated game. This is a huge opportunity for the Wolfpack to take a step forward and show that they are a true top-20 team. It's not going to be easy, as Tennessee seems to be hitting on all cylinders as they scored 69 points against a Chattanooga team that was predicted to challenge for the Southern Conference Title. NC State, on the other hand, played a less-than-impressive game against Western Carolina as they struggled to put points on the board for the first 3 quarters before finally putting away the Catamounts 38-21. Tennessee is going to present some significant challenges.

Offensively, the Volunteers play fast and can put up a lot of points. They were 8-0 last year when they scored more than 20 points, and 1-4 when they didn't. They have a new quarterback who has star potential in Nico Iamaleava who played well against a hapless Chattanooga team. The Volunteers are high on him, and if he brings more consistency to the offense, opponents are going to have a hard time defending them. Receiver could be a concern as they have a lot of new faces, but they are very talented. I don't think they are going to drop off much there. At running back, they return second-leading rusher Dylan Sampson who had 7 Touchdowns last season. The offensive line is a formidable force and they are huge. They should be even better than last year and they were very good last year. Pass protection is key for the type of offense the Vols play as they have plays that take longer to develop than a lot of teams. The Wolfpack defense has its work cut out for them against the Veer and Shoot offense of Tennessee. The basic philosophy of this offense is to set up the run with long passes down the field. It forces the defense to concentrate on the vertical passing game and therefore it becomes more vulnerable to the running game. They can score points in a hurry if you don't contain them. It is the most high-powered offense that the Wolfpack will face this year. Last season Tennessee’s average time of possession was 24.35. Their opponent's average time of possession was 35.03. That helps to paint a picture of just how quickly this offense can score points.

Defensively, the Vols are much more of a question mark. The entire starting secondary is new, as well as multiple guys up front. They do return their top edge rusher in James Pearce Jr. who will likely to be be a top-20 draft pick in the NFL after this season. This defense was better than they got credit for last year probably because they were overshadowed by the explosive offense. They were fourth in the country in tackles for loss (101 for 409 yards) and eighth in the country in sacks. The newly revamped defense hasn't been tested yet so it remains to be seen just how good they really are. If they put a lot of pressure on Grayson McCall it could be a long night for the Pack, but if the offensive line can provide pass protection, McCall should be able to throw the ball against the new secondary. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

One thing that Tennessee isn't good at is avoiding penalties. They were the most penalized team in the SEC with a total of 101 for 883 yards. They had 10 or more penalties in five games last season. In contrast to this, their opponents were penalized 72 times for 523 yards.

This is a really good football team, but it is certainly a winnable game, and that would be huge for NC State. A win against Tennessee would get the attention of a lot of people and serve notice that this is a team to be reckoned with. Their offense is definitely scary at times, but they do have new people and a good defensive effort by the Pack can put them in a position to win. I think their defense is vulnerable, especially in the secondary, and if the offensive line plays well, I think the Wolfpack offense can score a lot of points. We will find out Saturday night in Charlotte. I fully expect Grayson McCall to be much sharper than he was against Western Carolina, and I think the coaching staff will clean up a lot of the mistakes that were made during that game. It's not an end-all game, but it is an important matchup, one that the Wolfpack can win. Let's go Pack!