Tennessee's First Road Test Comes Down to the Line of Scrimmage

Colorado ran the ball 49 times at Bobby Dodd Stadium last Thursday and gained 183 yards doing it. Josh Heupel has spent the week talking about the line of scrimmage, and that is where Faizon Brandon's first road start begins.

No. 18 Tennessee (1-0) plays at Georgia Tech (0-1) Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Yellow Jackets lost their opener 14-13 to Colorado on a blocked field goal as time expired.

The Georgia Tech secondary held up. Colorado quarterback Julian Lewis had 64 passing yards before the winning drive, and Brent Key, the Georgia Tech coach, singled out Alabama transfer corner Jaylen Mbakwe and safeties Tae Harris and Savion Riley. The front is another matter. ESPN counted 46 designed runs by the Buffaloes, nine more than in any other game under Deion Sanders, and Georgia Tech's own rushing total was 51 yards.

"It's the guys up front that we've got to take a strong look at what's going on, from a schematic standpoint, an execution standpoint," Key said after the game. By Tuesday he had gone further. He told reporters his team had looked poorly prepared, poorly coached, poorly disciplined and soft. The bottom line, he said, was running the ball and stopping the run, and Georgia Tech had done neither.

Heupel gave his read on that front on Nashville radio. On The Mike Keith Show this week, the Tennessee coach said Georgia Tech is big, thick and strong across its front four and rotates multiple players at every spot. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, he said, had spent the week imploring the Vols to win the line of scrimmage. He also told Keith what he needs from his quarterback on the road. "He was very decisive with where he was going with the football. We're going to need that from him on Saturday night," Heupel said.

This site's Furman recap on Monday called Saturday the first real read on Brandon, and the five-touchdown opener is still the only tape. Key has watched it. On Thursday he called Brandon as good a freshman quarterback as he has seen in college football in a long time. When Heupel said the matchup would be physical, Key's response was that Josh was being nice.

Georgia Tech can throw. Alberto Mendoza threw for 237 yards in his first college start and Jordan Allen caught eight passes. But Key has already called his own team soft, and his front gets the first chance to answer that on Saturday night.

The depth-chart news favors Tennessee. Senior linebacker Arion Carter returns after a one-game NCAA suspension, and Carter led the SEC with 7.6 tackles per game last season. Key called him a ball hawk and one of the better players in the country at the position. The Card, this site's picks product, logged the line at Tennessee -8.5 opening and -12.5 by Wednesday afternoon at DraftKings via ESPN.

Georgia Tech's change is smaller. Key said he moved one offensive lineman up after Thursday's practice and would not overhaul the unit after one game.