2023 is a wrap: Tennessee football loses more games but gains Nico
The first way, way, too ridiculously early college football poll for 2024 is out. Georgia and Alabama are ranked one and two.
Thus, the more things change – and things are changing plenty – in Knoxville’s favorite sport, the more they stay the same.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s put the 2023 season to bed.
Congrats to Michigan and coach Darth Harbaugh. They were clearly the better side on the ultimate night.
Congrats to Missouri and Ole Miss for surprise 11-2 seasons, this year’s version of 2022 Tennessee.
Congrats to LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who, like Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams in ’22, won the Heisman Trophy despite his team being irrelevant in the playoffs.
Congrats to Deion Sanders, the first Sports Illustrated magazine “Sportsperson of the Year” to coach a 4-8 team.
Congrats to JT Daniels, who passed for 2,443 yards for his fourth college team, the Rice Owls. Daniels previously started for West Virginia, Georgia and Southern Cal. Surely, this is unprecedented?
Congrats to Kaidon Salter, who had the best year of any ex-Vol. Salter passed for 2,876 yards and rushed for 1,089 more in leading Liberty to a 13-0 regular season and Fiesta Bowl appearance.
RIP, Pac-12 Conference.
Farewell to divisional play in the SEC. The Longhorns and Sooners are on the way.
Farewell to the GOAT, Nick Saban, who leaves on his own terms.
Farewell to Jimbo Fisher and Pat Fitzgerald, who didn’t.
And congrats, more or less, to the hometown Vols.
Bottom line, nine wins coming on the heels of 11 in 2022 gave Tennessee 20 wins over two seasons for the first time since 2003-04.
The 35-0 Citrus Bowl domination of Iowa gave the program six wins in its past seven bowl games. The overtime loss to Purdue in 2021 is the outlier.
The 55th bowl appearance ties for fifth nationally and 30th victory ranks seventh.
Jaylen McCollough, taking advantage of the COVID bonus fifth season, set a school record by a position player with his 51st start.
Jaylen Wright became the most efficient 1,000-yard rusher (137 carries) in UT history.
In newcomer Jackson Ross, the Vols joined the Aussie punter wave. According to an Australian data source, 61 of 133 FBS programs had a punter from Down Under in 2023 – including 12 of 14 SEC schools.
Everyone noticed UT’s scoring drop from 46.1 points a game in 2022 to 31.8. In three games – Texas A&M, Missouri and Georgia – UT managed just one offensive touchdown.
Correspondingly, total offense fell from 525 yards a game in ’22 to 448 in ’23. Joe Milton ranked eighth in the SEC in passing yards, completion percentage and quarterback rating.
The Vols’ worst stat category was penalty yards per game. Absorbing 67.9 yards of self-inflicted damage per game, UT ranked 122nd nationally.
The defense improved. After allowing opponents 405 yards per game in 2022, the ’23 team sliced the total to 335 per game.
The best stat category? Fourth-down defense. Tennessee ranked third nationally, allowing opponents to convert only 26.9 percent on seven of 26 attempts. A year ago, it was a whopping 42.4 percent.
The Vols were also good in the critical category of turnover margin, tying for 23rd nationally with 18 positive and 12 negative. The offense played turnover free in four of the last six games.
Finally, we acknowledge the age of roster fluidity. At this writing, 12 Vols, most defensive backs and offensive linemen, are among the more than 2,000 players who entered the transfer portal.
As a local radio caller pointed out, to the title VFL it’s time to add another: VFN – Vol For Now.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 2023 is a wrap: Tennessee football loses more but gains Nico Iamaleava
