Last season, Tennessee rode its defense and stellar run game to a spot in the College Football Playoff. This season, Josh Heupel has needed 50-point outings and 400-yard games from his quarterback just to beat Kentucky.
That’s what it took on Saturday night as Joey Aguilar threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns in the Vols’ 56-34 win in Lexington, and Tennessee fans have just about had it with defensive coordinator Tim Banks.
Last year, when Tennessee had an elite defensive line rotation led by Omarr Norman-Lott and James Pearce Jr., Banks led the defense to rank 4th in the country in EPA/play, second in success rate, and held opponents to 17.