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In last week's loss to Florida, Tennessee's defense gave up 281 yards on just nine plays.

On Saturday, it allowed Arkansas State to pick up 212 yards on six plays.

But instead of a 39-point loss, the Vols walked away from Neyland Stadium with a 48-27 victory in front of 102,368.

The difference?

Besides the logos on the helmet - and the players in the uniforms - the Vols' defense helped dull the effect of those big chunks of yards by taking away the football.

But that's not to say the Vols felt entirely better about their performance on defense.

"If we're going to get to where we want to be, we've got to eliminate those big plays," defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "And you don't want to start the ballgame the way we started tonight."

After Tennessee opened with a touchdown on a six-play, 64-yard drive, Arkansas State came right back down the field for 60 yards in six plays and a touchdown of its own.

The key on that drive was a 45-yard pass from Corey Leonard to receiver Levi Dejohnette.

"The early play, the long pass, was a bust, with a young cornerback in there," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Jon Hefney didn't clean it up. That should have never happened."

Neither should the other two plays that went for 44 yards or longer, and that goes for the other three plays of 20 yards or more, too, Hefney says.

"We don't want to give up any big plays," he said. "If we stop the big plays and get interceptions, that'd be great."

Saturday wasn't quite great, but it had its highlights.

True freshman Brent Vinson saw plenty of action at cornerback and came away with his first career interception.

So did Marsalous Johnson, who has started all four games at corner for the Vols.

And defensive end Robert Ayers had a career high six tackles to lead the team, including two sacks in the first half to take over the team lead.

All told, the Vols were able to put more pressure on the quarterback than they have in any of their three previous games this season.

"We turned them loose up front," Chavis said. "We've been playing a little tight. We've got to go out and play.

"You've got to be confident in what you're doing. We're getting closer. I think we're closer than we've been all year. It was good to see that kind of pressure up front and good to see those kind of things happen."

Consider it a move in the right direction.

Tennessee, 2-2 heading into its Oct. 6 game at home against Georgia, has plenty more steps to take to get to exactly where they'd like to be defensively.

Taking away those big plays is the first one to make.

Not far behind is limiting its opponent's ability to run the ball.

For the fifth time in its last eight games, UT allowed an opposing ballcarrier to rush for more than 100 yards.

Saturday it was Indians tailback Reggie Arnold, who picked up 130 yards on 16 carries.

Arkansas State's two tailbacks rushed for 167 yards total and averaged nearly 8.4 yards a carry.

That's not something turnovers can negate, Hefney said.

"You've just got to take it as it happens and not worry about it," said Hefney, who admitted to missing tackles on Saturday. "Just go out the next game and try to stop Georgia from running the ball on us like Arkansas State did."

The good news is the Vols have two weeks to shore up a run defense that entered the game ranked 11th in the SEC before returning to conference play.

Afterward, Chavis again took responsibility for his defense's early season struggles.

But he also wanted to make sure he got his message across.

"If I'm quoted, I want this to be said: I'm excited about the way our football team is playing from an effort standpoint," he said. "We're not playing as smart as we need to play, a lot of that goes back to coaching. We got to do a better job. We got to set up situations better in practice to make sure they understand, and that's where we've got to improve. And we've got to improve.

"We're not anywhere near where we need to be, other than we're getting great effort from our players."

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

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.