Stat Watch: Tennessee

LSU handled life as a favorite pretty well last week against the Razorbacks. It wasn’t as comprehensive throughout as the advanced stats indicated it probably should have been, but LSU ran away with it in the end nonetheless, as the defensive line was able to contain the Arkansas passing game as I predicted and Derrius Guice turned it on in the second half. Now we shift our focus to another struggling conference foe, the Tennessee Volunteers.

This Season:

A note on these stats: The offensive and defensive S&P+ marks are calculated as adjusted scoring averages and for the situational ratings, above 100 is good and below 100 is bad. Links to an explanation on the various stats here, here and here:

• S&P+ Percentile: 21.3% (105th in FBS)
• Offensive S&P+: 20.9 (120th in FBS)
• Offensive Rushing S&P+: 113.3 (32nd in FBS)
• Offensive Passing S&P+: 93.0 (94th in FBS)
• Defensive S&P+: 27.0 (61st in FBS)
• Defensive Rushing S&P+: 90.0 (108th in FBS)
• Defensive Passing S&P+: 117.0 (21st in FBS)
• FEI: -.060 (80th in FBS)
• F/+: -25% (98th in FBS)

If you thought Arkansas was bad, um, take a look at the Vols I guess. They have a bottom 10 in the nation offense, a bottom 20 in the nation rushing defense, and are only in the top half in the country in pass defense, defense, and in running the ball. LSU has gotten a whole lot better at stopping the run lately and should be able to tee off on what could be a freshman QB for Tennessee in Will McBride. LSU was slow to get the ball moving on the ground last week, but if they can do that tomorrow night, they should stroll through Tennessee’s defense. This is shaping up to be another blowout win for the Tigers, they just have to go execute and get it done.