UT defense running on empty

Tired. Fatigued. Gassed. Spent.

You name it, and Tennessee's defense probably felt it Saturday night against South Carolina.

"You're tired. You're tired. Very tired," linebacker Rico McCoy said Monday. "You've got to push through, but you feel it the next day, I can promise you that. Your body's going to be sore. It's only natural."

What's not natural is the number of plays Tennessee's defense has been on the field the past few weeks.

Alabama and South Carolina ran a combined 173 plays on Tennessee's defense in an eight-day span.

Carolina ran 89 plays Saturday, a season-high against the Vols.

By contrast, Cal and Florida each ran 65 offensive plays against UT. Georgia ran 59.

When the No. 24 Vols step outside SEC play for the last time this season, getting off the field will be pretty high on their list of goals.

If only to avoid giving up the kind of yards it did to South Carolina (501) and the number of points it did to Alabama (41).

Linebacker Ryan Karl said a lot of the Gamecocks' big plays on offense were a product of fatigue - and mental mistakes that come with being fatigued.

"Their big chunks of yards came on mental busts," Karl said. "It was just mental busts. You get tired out there. They got a lot of yards on us just playing stupid."

Besides the mental mistakes, a tired defense is a slow defense, too.

"You just can't make plays that you're used to making," Karl said Saturday. "You're a step slower, basically. It seems like they're faster than you."

That's how it goes in football: defense tires before the offense.

Only fatigue wasn't a problem for the Vols' offense, which despite running 73 plays Saturday went three-and-out on five of its first six drives in the second half.

"We got fatigued some," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "That was both the inefficiency of the offense to consistently move the ball and allowing South Carolina to continue to make first downs."

McCoy, who estimates he was on the field for about 70 snaps Saturday, said he isn't worried about any lingering effects from so many plays the last two weeks.

The biggest problem - aside from giving up big chunks of yards - could be a crowded training room.

"It's about getting in and getting rehab, making sure you get that rest when you go home at night," McCoy said. "Get your sleep, make sure you're responsible for your body and make sure you've got time to heal."

All those methods, plus a little time in the whirlpool, mean about a two-day recovery time for McCoy, he said.

Yet, perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Saturday's game for the defense was its ability to keep South Carolina at bay late.

After giving up 21 consecutive points, UT's defense regrouped to force two turnovers and hold the Gamecocks to a field goal.

In overtime, after some 80-plus plays, they gave up just 2 yards before Ryan Succop missed a potential tying field goal from 40 yards.

According to defensive coordinator John Chavis, the defense's play in the waning moments of a 27-24 win was a product of sheer will.

"There's nothing I can do," he said Saturday. "I don't have a button. They have to dig down. They've got to have it within themselves, and they found it (Saturday).

"I wish I could take credit for that. It's our young men cowboying up and saying, 'Hey, we're going to win this football game.' "

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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