University of Tennessee Athletics
A Battle In The Trenches
November 17, 2014 | Football
Nov. 17, 2014
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
-- Tennessee has made great strides in back-to-back wins of South Carolina and Kentucky, but a true test of how far they have progressed will come Saturday night when Missouri visits Neyland Stadium.The Tigers enter at 8-2, ranked No. 19 in the country, and riding a three-game winning streak. Even more impressive is the road record, a perfect 9-0 over the last two seasons, including victories at South Carolina, Georgia and Florida this season. Seven of the nine road wins have come against SEC opponents.
Head coach Butch Jones led his comments on Mizzou by lauding the road record of the team his Volunteers host Saturday. As it does for Tennessee, success starts up front on defense for the Tigers.
"When you think about them, it first starts defensively," Jones said. "They are number one in the SEC in sacks, number six in the country overall. Number 16th in the country in scoring defense, and 22nd in the country in total defense. They have the ability to dominate a football game."
The line of scrimmage on defense revolves around a pair of players with a future on Sundays, senior Markus Golden and junior Shane Ray. Golden had nine tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble against A&M. Ray holds the Mizzou single-season sack record and continues to build it, currently standing at an SEC-best 13.0. His 18.0 tackles for loss also lead the SEC and rank third nationally.
"Best tandem of defensive ends we have faced to date in Shane Ray, which some individuals think will be the first overall pick in the NFL draft, and Marcus Golden," said Jones. "When you look at the formula for truly winning in this conference, all juniors and seniors on the defensive side of the ball and really on their football team. So you can't put a value amount on experience."
Tennessee has been pretty adept at chasing down the quarterback as well, led by Derek Barnett and Curt Maggitt. Barnett's nine sacks are the most by a Tennessee player since Anthony Sessions' 9.5 and Johns Henderson's 12 in 2000. When combined with Maggitt's eight sacks, the Barnett-Maggitt tandem has 17 sacks, the highest two-player total since Sessions and Henderson in 2000.
As a team, Tennessee's 29 sacks are the most by a Volunteer defense since 2005, when a UT defense led by Parys Haralson (8.5) and Jason Hall (7.0) had 33.
"I don't know if it's exceeded," Jones said of the expectations. "We expected to be much more athletic up front going into this season, when you look at Jordan Williams, who played defensive end, moving him to defensive tackle. Owen Williams has good quickness off the football. Danny O'Brien's kind of a plugger. Then you look at Curt Maggitt, Corey Vereen and then the addition of Derek Barnett. So, we're much much more athletic up front. So, we thought that would give us an opportunity to be able to impact the quarterback a little bit more."
Tennessee's other advantage is the 102,455 in the stands. Though the environment will be nothing new for the Tigers, who played in front of 100,000+ in College Station last week, Jones wants every seat filled for Senior Night on Saturday.
"Again, we need a home field advantage for us, a fifth sellout which we will need," Jones said. "We have to improve greatly this week in moving forward against a talented football team."
