The Tennessee Volunteers travel to Nashville to face in-state rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Vols are one game shy of securing bowl eligibility for the first time since 2010. Head coach Butch Jones previewed the upcoming matchup during his weekly press conference Monday.
“Moving on, the last game of the year, Vanderbilt,” Jones said. “Obviously, Coach Mason is in the first year of his program. He is doing a very, very good job of instilling his philosophies, offense, defense, special teams, program philosophy. They present numerous and many challenges for you. Especially when you look at them defensively, they are multiple in their schemes, with their fronts, their coverages, they do a great job of really mixing it up. Making you prepare week in and week out for it. Different wrinkles, different things that we haven’t seen all year that will be a challenge for us.
“They are explosive and powerful upfront. Offensively, they play different quarterbacks with different skillets that pose a unique challenge for your defense. Again, they have multiple personnel groupings, multiple tight end groupings, they have a physical style of play. They shift, motion, and they create matchup problems for you with 12 personnel, 21 personnel. So again, we all know it is very difficult to win on the road in the SEC. It will be a great challenge this week. Like every challenge we are looking forward to it as well.”
The Commodores have started all four quarterbacks in 2014. Last week, Vanderbilt saw three different players take snaps during its 51-0 loss to Mississippi State. Jones said his team will be prepared to face multiple quarterbacks on Saturday.
“Well like I stated earlier, it’s a challenge in and of itself because each of the quarterbacks present different challenges for you,” Jones said. “They have different skill sets. So, you always study your opponent and the little ticks, the little nuances, trying to give yourself a competitive advantage, but now when you have three to study, it makes it that much even more challenging, the preparation.
“They do, Vanderbilt does a tremendous job with multiple shifts, trades, motions. They challenge your communicative process not just on offense, but defense. They do some good things schematically. Again, it’s going to be a challenge in and of itself, but when you’re facing a number of quarterbacks, it is a great challenge to prepare for.”
A former freelance journalist from Nashville, Jason covers Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky
