Defense shows up in second half : govolsxtra.com

Last week, Tennessee’s defense looked nasty. On Saturday, they played nasty.

And there’s a difference.

“It was more Tennessee football,” senior safety Jarod Parrish said. “We got after it. We played vicious football, hitting people and getting turnovers.”

A week after the Vols gave up 471 yards of total offense and more points than it had since 1995 in their season-opening loss at No. 10 California, Tennessee’s defense buckled down and played the kind of football it expects to play in the second half of a 39-19 victory over Southern Miss on Saturday night.

“When you win, it’s a world of difference,” UT defensive coordinator John Chavis said. “I don’t think you can begin to even describe it. It’s all about winning and losing. Obviously, when you win, the better you look and the better you feel.”

Early on, it didn’t look like many of the 106,311 fans inside Neyland Stadium would leave feeling any better about UT’s defense than when they flipped off their televisions last week.

Southern Miss (1-1) scored on its first three drives and didn’t have to punt until its fifth drive of the game.

The Golden Eagles’ first drive stalled at UT’s 12-yard line and ended in a field goal.

They scored on their next play from scrimmage, when quarterback Jeremy Young hit an open Chris Johnson for a 69-yard touchdown.

Cornerback Marsalous Johnson, who guarded Chris Johnson on that play, said the Vols busted coverage, and he was supposed to have help from a safety over the top.

It was one of a few busts for the Vols in the first half, which helped Southern Miss score 16 points and gain 246 yards of total offense.

Thirty of those yards came on a pass to tight end Shawn Nelson, 69 on the touchdown to Johnson and 31 on a scramble by Young.

The Eagles had two other plays in the first half that went for more than 20 yards.

“We didn’t have that bad of a first half,” linebacker Ryan Karl said. “We just gave up four big plays. They didn’t get anything else. We just wanted to go out and concentrate on not giving up any big plays in the second half.”

Said defensive end Xavier Mitchell: “That was the key thing in the first half — the long option run, the long pass for a touchdown. We had to play smarter. We knew we had to get it done.”

The Vols (1-1) did in the second half.

They didn’t give up big plays. They made them.

On the Golden Eagles’ first drive of the second half, middle linebacker Jerod Mayo forced tailback Tory Harrison to fumble, which Parrish fell on at the UT 46-yard line that set up a touchdown.

UT forced Southern Miss to go three-and-out on its next possession.

After the Vols scored a touchdown to make the score 37-19, Nevin McKenzie recorded UT’s second sack of the season, forcing Southern Miss reserve quarterback Stephen Reaves to fumble.

As the ball rolled into the end zone, Reaves kicked it away from defensive back Eric Berry to prevent the Vols from scoring a defensive touchdown.

Former Farragut High School standout Nick Reveiz recovered a fumble on a kickoff midway through the fourth quarter that led to three more points for the Vols.

Tennessee’s defensive line — particularly tackles Walter Fisher and Dan Williams — were able to be disruptive in the second half.

The only real downside for the Vols was a 19-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a field goal, one of a school-record four on the night for Southern Miss.

That drive chewed up nearly 7 minutes of game clock, but UT refused to allow the big play.

“Those things are going to happen from time to time,” Chavis said. “You don’t like to do that. Nobody likes to give up any drives. I think we have a lot to build on. Are we a finished product yet? No, not even close. Our guys have a great attitude, they’re going to work hard and we’re going to get better.”

Chavis said the Vols made progress from last week to this week, but there’s plenty of room left to get before next week’s trip to defending SEC and national champion Florida.

“If we can walk away from here and tell you we’re ready to take on the world, that’d be one thing. But we’re not,” Chavis said. “I am proud of the effort and what they got accomplished between the California game and the Southern Miss game.

“But we’ve got a lot of work to do. We got to get better before we go to Gainesville.”