Despite Win over South Carolina, Tennessee Has Much to Fix in Bye Week

For all the promising strides Tennessee has made, the Volunteers' bye week comes at an ideal time to address the issues standing between Butch Jones' team and a bowl berth.

Winning in dramatic fashion over a division rival the way UT did in its 45-42 overtime victory over South Carolina on Saturday glosses over imperfections.

It also makes everybody happy when there's tangible evidence of the program's growth.

But the Vols still have huge questions in every facet of the game.

UT is 4-5 with games left against Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt. All are winnable; all could be lost. While the Vols won't face another offense as dynamic as the Gamecocks, they also won't face a defense as rife with holes.

So, it's essential UT gets better in the next 12 days before it hosts a much-improved Kentucky in Neyland Stadium.

Let's take a look at major points of emphasis Jones has to focus on in a perfectly placed bye week:

Defense

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Tennessee's team strength all season has all of a sudden become a major weakness over the past three weekends, and the reason is simple:

The Vols must be tired on defense.

There simply aren't enough dependable players to throw out there on that side of the ball yet, which leads to stalwarts such as A.J. Johnson, Curt Maggitt, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cameron Sutton and Derek Barnett playing tons of snaps week after week.

It's showing lately as UT has allowed 34, 34 and 42 points in its past three games against Ole Miss, Alabama and South Carolina.

If UT never sees another "Cooper" at receiver, it'll be too soon. One week after Alabama's Amari Cooper set career receiving records against the Vols, Carolina's Pharoh Cooper surpassed that. A Vols pass defense that entered the Bama game fourth nationally has plummeted to 34th.

Granted, UT won't play another passing offense as strong as those of the Gamecocks and Tide, which rank second and third in the league. But UT has really struggled defending the pass.

Too many times against the Gamecocks, the Vols lost Cooper in soft spots in the zone. UT gambled not shadowing him with their star cornerback Sutton.

An offensive mastermind like Steve Spurrier exploited matchups with Cooper over and over again, such as the time the star receiver beat nickelback Justin Coleman down the seam for an 85-yard touchdown.

The good news is Missouri's Bud Sasser is the only legitimate receiving threat remaining.

Hand-in-hand with the struggles in the passing game for the Vols defense is UT's propensity to give up big plays. That was the unit's biggest deficiency in 2013, and it got progressively worse as the season wore on due to depth issues. 

Unfortunately (though it's not as drastic), coordinator John Jancek's group is experiencing the same thing this season.

During the past three games, the Vols have allowed 32 plays of 15 or more yards, including nine that went for more than 30 yards, according to an analysis of UT's official statistics.

UT was at its very worst against the Gamecocks yet still won, so teaching points are a little easier to stomach.

Those back-breaking plays allowed are way up from the season's first six games where UT gave up just 24 plays of 15 or more yards with just three going for more than 30. The competition has improved, but that doesn't diminish the need for Tennessee to rest up and trim those back through the season's final quarter.

The best news? UT's defense came up huge with the game on the line. The Vols are extremely disruptive up front, and that showed up despite the struggles to help them pull off an improbable comeback. 

Offense

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It seems there's nothing Jalen Hurd can't do.

But can he do it by himself at running back?

Tennessee senior Marlin Lane put no pressure on his injured ankle Saturday night as he was carried off the field by trainers, just after getting healthy for the first time in three games. Now, the Vols are stuck with "Hurd and hope" in the offensive backfield.

Lane wasn't putting weight on it after the game, either.

The good news for UT is sophomore blossoming star quarterback Josh Dobbs gives the Vols another legit rushing threat, and between him and Hurd, they're going to be fine.

But it wouldn't hurt to get fellow freshman Derrell Scott some extra reps over the next two weeks to prepare him to get an increased workload if Lane is out for an extended amount of time.

Senior Devrin Young hasn't played since breaking his ribs, and his status moving forward is unclear, so UT needs to get Hurd some help. Who's that going to be? Scott seems like the viable choice, so he needs to grow up a lot in the bye week.

Whoever lines up behind Dobbs needs to help the team out in short-yardage situations. That remains an issue, especially when the team gets inside the 20-yard line.

With Dobbs at the helm, UT's offense has been dynamic and, at times, unstoppable.

But offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian had to resort to trickery to get UT's first touchdown Saturday night after the Gamecocks' goal-line stand denied the Vols seven points the first time they were down there. 

The offensive line issues may appear much better in this new scheme, but the linemen still have serious problems moving the line of scrimmage in short-yardage situations, and the coaching staff can't trust them because of that.

Special Teams and Coaching

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From a kicking standpoint, the Vols just have to be much more consistent.

It was a good thing to see true freshman place-kicker Aaron Medley split the uprights on a 32-yard overtime field goal, but he missed important attempts of 43 and 45 yards earlier.

After being named a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, UT senior punter Matt Darr had perhaps his worst game of the year against Carolina, punting three times for an average of 32.7 yards. It was miserable kicking conditions in Columbia, but UT can't afford lapses in the kicking game.

The questionable coaching decisions were a little more complex.

With Dobbs at the helm, Bajakian's play-calling looks a lot better than it had with an immobile quarterback, and Jancek has built up so much goodwill with UT's hot defensive start to the season and undisputed improvement that it's hard to fault the coordinators.

But a couple of questionable decisions by Jones were bailed out by Dobbs' superb game against South Carolina.

Rather than go for it on 4th-and-1 and 4th-and-3 with the Vols ahead by a touchdown and then tied in the third quarter, he elected to send Medley out to kick field goals in the wind-whipping end zone of Williams-Brice Stadium.

The first decision was somewhat more understandable, considering UT had a touchdown lead at the time. But after Medley missed his first chance, Jones should have kept the offense on the field the second time.

This is a UT team that rushed for 344 yards on a 6.3 average Saturday night. The Vols have a dynamic dual-threat quarterback and a hulking runner in Hurd. They piled up 645 yards of total offense, and Carolina couldn't stop them.

Jones should have ridden his horses.

Points are always important, but Jones needed to show his offense he trusted them to get the yards, much like he should have done at the end of the first half against Alabama when he elected to run out the clock and kick a field goal rather than try for the touchdown.

Jones has done an exceptional job building the program and a good job coaching. He is a master motivator, and his teams never quit. As he grows into coaching in this league, there is plenty that makes you think he's going to do well.

But in rugged, close SEC battles—and especially in shootouts like the past two weekends—settling for field goals doesn't win games.

It's nitpicking to dissect decisions in a game UT ultimately won, but Jones' conservative actions had to come because of a mistrust of his offensive line. Had the line proven it could dominate in short-yardage situations earlier and not been so bad for most of the year, the coach probably would have kept his offense on the field.

Against comparable (or inferior) opponents the rest of the way, Jones needs to lean on his team to make key conversions at important moments.

The best news for the Vols is all these improvements and adjustments can come in a relaxed environment after the program's biggest win in years. 

Tennessee is making strides and improving noticeably all over the field. The youngsters are growing up, and a team that looked like it didn't know how to win a football game finally made it happen against South Carolina.

Can the Vols win two of three and go to a bowl game playing like they did Saturday night? Probably so, but if they can make some adjustments in the off week, there's no reason to believe seven wins are out of the question.

All stats and information taken from UTSports.com or CFBStats.com.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.