No. 15 Tennessee faces Chattanooga, aims for 'elite' running game

Tennessee is pegged to do good things this season, and getting off to a strong start will be one of the requirements for that to come to fruition.

The No. 15 Volunteers will take on visiting Chattanooga in an intrastate opener Saturday afternoon at Knoxville, Tenn.

"We get to go play ball," Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said about the arrival of game week. "Good teams get better throughout the course of the season. We still have a lot of things we have to clean up."

The Volunteers will look for signs of domination in the first game of the season.

"When we get into the season, you have to be elite running the football," Heupel said. "Defensively, you have to be able to match people out."

Tennessee, coming off a 9-4 season, will begin the season with a top-15 ranking in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2003 and 2004.

"As you get into the season, I think everybody is grasping their role, working and competing for the role that they want," Heupel said. "At the same time, growing as a player is really important, and keeping your team chemistry that you have built is really important as well."

The Mocs are ranked as high as No. 8 in FCS polls, with seven offensive players and seven defenders returning from a season ago.

"No matter how many guys you got coming back, we're adding more pieces now than we ever have besides the freshmen that you signed," coach Rusty Wright said. "That's what we talked about as a team after we got to the last practice of camp. What's our identity going to be? Who are we as a football team?"

The Volunteers lost defensive back Jourdan Thomas for the season due to a knee injury suffered during the preseason, and redshirt sophomore Christian Harrison or freshman Boo Carter will fill that spot.

On offense, receiver Squirrel White was Tennessee's top receiver last year, racking up 803 yards and two touchdowns. He had 67 catches.

"He had a really good camp," Heupel said. "He has great command understanding what we are doing, the fundamentals and technique that go in with the different coverages that he is going to see based off the route concept."

Chattanooga, of the Southern Conference, finished 8-5 last year, reaching the second round of the FCS playoffs, where it lost to Furman.

"We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football," Wright said. "I think every year, you have to start over to a certain degree and, thankfully, we've had a good nucleus of people let us start over with and keep some things going in the right way."

Chattanooga's defense could be its strength with tackle Marlon Taylor and safety Reuben Lowery III receiving preseason recognition.

Yet the Mocs entered preseason practices without clarity at the cornerback positions, so those are spots bound to be tested by the Volunteers during Saturday's opener.

The Volunteers lead the all-time series with the Mocs 40-2-2, including a 45-0 win in 2019 in the most recent meeting.

--Field Level Media