Oklahoma's biggest defensive challenge of the season was last weekend at home against Ole Miss. On Saturday, the Sooner defense will face an even bigger challenge, and on the road, at Tennessee.
That's just the way things are week to week in the SEC football wars.
In another weekly marquee SEC matchup, No. 18 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2) will play at No. 14 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday in a battle of two-loss teams, both fighting for positioning in the upper half of the powerhouse SEC standings. The two losses for both teams have come in conference play: OU to Texas and last weekend to Ole Miss, and Tennessee to Georgia and Alabama.
Previewing Oklahoma vs Tennessee
This will be Oklahoma's first trip to the Volunteer State as a member of the SEC and just the second all-time to Tennessee's Neyland Stadium. The Sooners prevailed in their only other visit to play at Tennessee, 31-24 in double overtime in 2015, overcoming a 17-0 first-half deficit behind a three-touchdown magical performance by quarterback Baker Mayfield in his first season at Oklahoma.
The two teams played last year at OU, with Tennessee winning 25-15. The Sooners own a 3-2 edge in the all-time series. The two teams split a couple of Orange Bowl appearances in 1938 (17-0 UT) and in 1967 (26-24 OU). Oklahoma won both ends of a home-and-home series in 2014 and '15.
As was the case last weekend against Ole Miss, Saturday's game at Tennessee features a showdown of strength vs. strength: Tennessee's top-ranked SEC offense going against an Oklahoma defense that leads the conference in scoring defense and total defense.
The game on Saturday will air in the primetime window at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. The network's top broadcast team of Chris Fowler (play by play), Kirk Herbstreit (analysis) and Holly Rowe will be on the call. It will be Tennessee's first appearance at night this season.
What to know about Tennessee
- Tennessee leads the SEC in both scoring offense (45.6 points per game) and total offense (510.1 yards per game), and ranks second and third nationally, respectively, in both categories. The Volunteer offense is the best the Sooners will face this season and is fueled by transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar, who leads the SEC in passing, averaging nearly 300 yards per game throwing to two of the top receivers in the conference in Chris Brazzell II and Braylon Staley. The Vols also have a pretty sound running game behind DeSean Bishop, averaging over seven yards per carry.
- Tennessee has scored 365 points through eight games, the second-most in program history. The Volunteers have scored 34 or more points in seven of eight games this season. Their lowest point total of the season was 20 in a 37-20 loss to Alabama.
- Oklahoma will be going against shades of itself in this game. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was the quarterback in the Sooners' 2000 national championship season and served on the OU coaching staff under Bob Stoops from 2006-14. He was let go as offensive coordinator in 2014 and replaced by Lincoln Riley. Heupel was the first All-America quarterback at Oklahoma since Jack Mildren in 1971. Three other coaches with OU ties are on Heupel's Tennessee staff: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle, who was a Sooner QB from 2006-08, and Willie Martinez, who coached defensive backs in 2010-11, and former OU fulback Seth Littrell, who was just fired as the Sooners' offensive coordinator last season.
- Tennessee will wear its alternate "Dark Mode" uniforms (black helmets, black jerseys and black pants) in the game against Oklahoma on Saturday. The Volunteers are 5-1 when going Dark Mode.
What to know about Oklahoma
- Oklahoma desperately needs the pre-Texas John Mateer to return for the showdown at Tennessee. After his thumb injury prior to the rivalry game with Texas, Mateer's production has not been the same as it was in his first four games. Here is the sad comparison: Prior to the injury, Mateer was averaging just over 300 passing yards and 48 rushing yards per game (nearly 5.0 per carry). In his last three games, the OU starting QB has averaged 191.7 passing yards and 12 rushing yards per game (1.2 per carry). His completion percentage has also suffered (67% before the injury, 59% since), and he also has been sacked nine times since the injury and just four times in the first four games.
- Sophomore running back Xavier Robinson has established himself as the No. 2 running back. Against Ole Miss, he rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yard touchdown run, and over the last two games, he has 20 carries for 167 yards, an average of 8.4 per rush.
- If the Sooners are going to win this game, the defense is going to have to go into bend-but-not-break mode and limit Tennessee's prolific scoring offense. Oklahoma has allowed as many as 34 points just once this season (last weekend to Ole Miss), while Tennessee has failed to score that many points just once in eight games.
- The Oklahoma defense has registered 11-plus tackles for loss in each of its last six games and leads the nation in that category with a total of 89 for the season.
Key matchup
It's abundantly obvious that the key matchup in Saturday's showdown between Oklahoma and Tennessee is the Volunteers' explosive, high-scoring offensive machine going against Brent Venables' Oklahoma defense, which was exposed to some extent by Ole Miss last weekend but still leads the SEC in scoring defense, passing defense -- which is a major part of Tennessee's offensive attack -- and total defense. The key for the Sooners on the defensive side is getting pressure on Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar and disrupting his rhythm and decision making.
Prediction
Tennessee is a 2.5-point favorite in this game and playing at night at home, which is going to be an extremely high hurdle for Oklahoma to get over. The road team, however, has won almost as many times in SEC games this season as the home team, including in six of the seven conference games last weekend. Tennessee's defense is one of the worst in the SEC -- sounds a lot like the Lincoln Riley Oklahoma teams, doesn't it? -- so the Sooners should be able to score some points, but probably not enough.
Tennessee 35, Oklahoma 30