Going from an offensive juggernaut to a defensive menace isn’t the only metamorphosis Tennessee’s football program has experienced during Josh Heupel’s fourth season in Knoxville.
The Volunteers have also transformed from fast starters to second-half standouts.
“At halftime, nobody blinks an eye,” the Tennessee head coach said after his team conquered Alabama 24-17 inside Neyland Stadium last weekend. “They have competitive composure and understand that we have to make some adjustments, go execute and do our job. Inside the locker room, you talk about guys who have belief, confidence and trust in one another and continue to play for one another on their side of the ball and the other side of the ball.
“That’s the culture that you want to have inside of your locker room. It’s really special.”
Tennessee’s second-half success in recent weeks has kept the No. 7 Vols in line for a potentially special season. They are 6-1 overall and 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play with an open date this weekend and looming November tests against Kentucky, Mississippi State, Georgia, UTEP and Vanderbilt.
The Vols traveled to Arkansas on Oct. 5 with a 4-0 record and a No. 4 ranking. They were among four Football Bowl Subdivision teams that had not trailed in any game this season, and they had outscored their first four foes 149-6 in the first half.
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In Fayetteville, they were held scoreless in a first half for the first time in the Heupel era, and then it happened a second and third time against Florida and Alabama.
“You don’t want to panic and create panic at halftime, because if you start to panic and freak out, then you’re worried about not doing your job,” Vols sixth-year senior receiver Bru McCoy said this past week. “I think the message is to just do your job at a high level, and if everyone is doing their job and not worried about something else and just focusing on what you need to do and doing it at a high level, then things will click.
“You can’t be worried about what other guys have going on when you’re on the field.”
Fortunately for Tennessee’s offense, three consecutive scoreless first halves have resulted in deficits of just 3-0, 3-0 and 7-0 due to the team’s stellar defense. The Vols scored 14 third-quarter points against the Razorbacks but couldn’t hold a 14-3 lead in a 19-14 loss, but then they managed to overtake Florida and Alabama, topping the Gators 23-17 in overtime.
Tennessee junior running back Dylan Sampson has been a monster reason for Tennessee’s second-half success, rushing for 312 of his 391 yards the past three games after the break.
“You don’t want to be angry at halftime, but you want to dwell on what we could have done but didn’t do,” Sampson said after the Alabama game. “All we knew was that our defense was playing their tails off. Our defense had held them to seven points, and we knew we were getting the ball back first.
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“That’s a situation in the locker room when the energy can go down, but you have leaders walking around explaining how we are getting the ball back and how we have our defense’s back. All we can do is move forward and worry about the next play.”
The Vols are looking to be more than a second-half team during the second half of the season. Stronger starts could help Tennessee reclaim the dominant form it displayed during the first month of games, though getting stronger as a contest progresses isn’t a bad trait, either.
“It wasn’t pretty early, and 102,000 people saw it,” Heupel said after last weekend’s win. “We did, too. It’s not that far off either, and that’s why you need to appreciate it when it’s going really well.
“You have to be on the right side of it as a competitor. We just have to find a way to be able to start faster and be better.”
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