There were some concerns about the Tennessee pass rush coming out of the Ball State win, although we were mainly nitpicking. Those concerns are no more following Tennessee’s win against Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.
The Tennessee defense ended up carrying the team in the second half, even after a shaky start. Tim Banks was dialing up all kinds of pressure, but couldn’t quite get home early on. What he was able to do was hit Kedon Slovis quite a few times, eventually forcing him out of the game. The USC transfer was rocked time and time again, forcing Nick Patti into action.