Three Questions Following Tennessee Football's Non-Conference Play

The Tennessee Volunteers must answer these questions following non-conference play.

Josh Heupel prior to kickoff between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kennesaw State Owls. | Dale Dowden/@Dale_Dowden (Vols On SI/@VolsOnSI)

The Tennessee Volunteers are set for their first SEC conference game of the season, following what was a three-game non-conference slate in which the Tennessee football program was victorious.

Tennessee has some questions that need to be answered ahead of SEC play, as they will begin their slate against the No. 1 team in the entire country. That team is the Texas Longhorns.

Here are the three biggest questions that Tennessee must answer following non-conference play.

Question No. 1: Can Tennessee Football Fix Their Offensive Line Problem?

Tennessee offensive lineman Shamurad Umarov (74) yells in celebration after winning a college football game between Tennessee and Arkansas at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Oct. 11, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

If there has been one consistent problem for the Vols, it has been the offensive line. Whether it is the penalties that they are getting or it is Faizon Brandon scrambling for his life, things just haven't looked good. Brandon hasn't been sacked much, but they have given up some major tackles for losses. This is something that will have to improve if the Vols are going to win some of the big games, as some of the lesser defensive lines that they are playing have even had some big moments against the Tennessee offensive line.

Tennessee will also need to know who they want starting at this point. There are some major questions to answer, and obviously subs will happen, but the Vols need to know who their five guys are up front, and I believe they will.

Question No. 2: Can Tennessee Football Finally Begin to Avoid the Injury Bug?

Tennessee tight end Ethan Davis (0) smiles after scoring a touchdown during a Tennessee football game against Furman at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sept. 5, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Tennessee Volunteers already have a plethora of talented players out for the season, let alone having some players banged up momentarily. Tennessee will need to come back healthy, as they can't continue to have players dropping with the injury bug, especially at the positions where they are thin.

For instance: This team isn't thin at running back, but on Saturday it seemed that way with Bishop being limited, Javin Gordon being out, and Justin Baker also being out. This left Daune Morris, who is someone who receives plenty of snaps anyway, along with Hunter Barnes, who isn't someone people thought would receive any snaps early in the game, as he did.

Tennessee has to get back on track in the right way, and hopefully some luck will go their way, because you never want to see injuries, no matter who it is.

Question 3: How Vanilla Has Tennessee Truly Been on Offense, and Especially on Defense?

Sep 19, 2026; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee coach Josh Heupel chats with Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon (11) during Tennesseea?TMs college football game against Kennesaw State at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Sept. 19, 2026. Mandatory Credit: Saul Young/News Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

There is no secret that the Vols have tried to remain vanilla in their play calling. What this means is that the Vols haven't dug deep into their bag of plays on the offensive or defensive side, but the truth is that we never truly know how deep they have actually gone through their playbook in the first three games. The only thing that I can guarantee is that the Vols haven't shown everything yet, which is a good sign, as one could argue that the Texas Longhorns have likely shown more of their playbook than the Vols, considering they were in a dogfight against the Ohio State Buckeyes two weeks ago.

The question definitely remains: "Exactly how vanilla has Tennessee been?" The easy assumption is that the Vols have much more to offer, and it seems reasonable to believe that the Vols will show a good bit of that against the Longhorns on Saturday.

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