2-Minute Drill: The Tennessee Volunteers

(Photos by Stephen Mally/The Gazette)

Tennessee was OK on rush defense in the SEC this season, finishing ninth in the league with 162.08 yards allowed per game. Beyond that, the Volunteers were extremely disruptive out of their 4-3 defense without a lot of crazy blitz packages or stunts. UT finished third in the SEC with 88 tackles for loss, led by true freshman defensive end Derek Barnett (6-3, 267, pictured above) with 20.5.

The Vols are young up the middle. Nose tackle Danny O'Brien (6-2, 286) is a sophomore finishing his first season as a starter. Middle linebacker Jakob Johnson (6-4, 240) become the 10th true freshman to start this season for head coach Butch Jones. Weakside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (6-1, 230) also is a sophomore. He finished second on the team and ninth in the SEC with 88 tackles.

Iowa should have physical maturity over the Vols. The Hawkeyes are led up front by fifth-year senior tackles Brandon Scherff and Anrew Donnal. Center Tommy Gaul is a senior and guard Austin Blythe is a junior. Theoretically, the Hawkeyes should have an experience edge here, but ...

... During bowl prep, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Iowa's O-line hasn't been perfect, but did open enough space for running backs who simply didn't take advantage. Iowa had just two 100-yard rushing performances this season (freshman Akrum Wadley rushed for 106 vs. Northwestern and senior Mark Weisman went for 134 at Illinois) and finished 10th in the league with 156.3 rushing yards a game (24 yards less than last season per game).

Probably expect Weisman to be the primary, but he went through workouts this week with a harness on his left shoulder. Junior Jordan Canzeri said he's at his healthiest this season, but isn't 100 percent. Wadley has ball security issues that kept him from meaningful carries in the final three weeks. Freshman Jonathan Parker remains a utility back. Sophomore LeShun Daniels will get a look after missing the last five games after ankle surgery.

Advantage: Iowa

The Vols have a solid secondary, ranking fifth in the SEC and allowing just 197.8 yards a game. Sophomore corner Cameron Sutton (6-1, 190) recorded 14 pass breakups this season, tying for fifth in UT history. He also had three interceptions. Senior Justin Coleman (5-10, 188) led the Vols with four interceptions, including three in the last four games. Coleman has a streak of 34 straight starts. Safeties Brian Randolph (6-0, 209, pictured above) and LaDarrell McNeil have combined for 155 tackles this season.

What makes the Vols tough to throw against is its pass rush. Barnett is a jewel of a defensive end. He finished fourth in the SEC with 10 sacks as a true freshman. He's balanced by strongside linebacker Curt Maggitt (6-3, 251), an NFL prospect who finished third in the SEC with 11 sacks.

Yes, a ton has been made this week about Iowa quarterback. If you're not bleary-eyed with it by now (chance you might be), junior Jake Rudock will start and then sophomore C.J. Beathard will play. From there, the guide will be who moves the team and has success. This is what Ferentz said. This is what offensive coordinator Greg Davis said. We'll see if it turns out to be true.

Senior wide receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley will be a ball of nervous energy. He very much wants the three receptions he needs to break Derrell Johnson-Koulianos' career receptions record (173), but he also knows there are no guarantees and he's going to have to go out and get them.

If Iowa ends up passing 30-plus times, it will need two quarterbacks. Tennessee's front four can get to the passer. In Iowa's five losses, it allowed 17 sacks.

Advantage: Push

Another paragraph, another bunch of factlets about a true freshman for the Vols. This time it's running back Jalen Hurd (6-3, 227). He's a serious running back. As a junior at Beech High School (Hendersonville, Tenn.), Hurd rushed for a Tennessee prep record 3,357 yards and 43 touchdowns. He played just one game his senior season because of a shoulder injury, but he led the Vols with 777 yards on 174 attempts with three touchdowns. He also caught 33 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns.

Tennessee ranks 13th in the SEC in rushing at 135.0 yards per game, and its 3.42 yards per carry is tied with Vanderbilt for last in the conference. In their last five games of the season, when Joshua Dobbs took over for injured Justin Worley at QB, the Vols have rushed for 181 (against Alabama), 344, 214, 53 (vs. Missouri) and 170 yards. The 42 sacks UT has allowed takes 302 yards out of its rushing totals, which would be closer to 4.5 yards a carry.

Iowa had to replace three NFL-caliber linebackers in 2014 and it took a took. Iowa dropped from fourth in the league in rush defense (128.38 yards a game) to sixth (158.75). Of course, the Big Ten, specifically the B1G West, was filled was brilliant running backs and that showed up in Iowa's numbers, which saw teams rush for 200-plus yards four times. This week, Ferentz compared Tennesee's rush attack to Maryland (212 vs. Iowa) and Minnesota (291 vs. Iowa).

The Vols run some zone-read looks with Dobbs (UT's second-leading rush with 393 yards and six TDs), some gap scheme and lots of misdirection.

Advantage: Push

The Vols will be without wide receiver Jason Croom today. He suffered a knee in injury in practice in early December, raising UT's number of wide receivers lost for the season to four. Junior Pig Howard (5-8, 187) leads with 52 catches for 589 yards and a TD. Von Pearson (6-3, 183) is next with 31 catches for 318 yards and four TDs.

Dobbs (pictured above) is the same kind of dual-threat QB that has given Iowa problems this season. UT coach Butch Jones praised him for 'distributing' the ball. Dobbs has throw eight TDs and five interceptions, but he's also completed 61.5 percent of his passes. He's started just five games, but he did help put 95 points on the board in consecutive games (South Carolina and Kentucky) and put up a poised performance in UT's victory over Vanderbilt (91 yards rushing and two TDs), which clinched its first bowl since 2010.

Iowa's secondary is going to want to make up for the collapse it had against Nebraska on Nov. 28. Iowa gave up several big pass plays in the second half that helped allow the Huskers to overcome a 17-point second-half deficit. There was a questional pass interference, but there were too many dropped coverages when UNL QB Tommy Armstrong broke the pocket, namely on the game-winning TD in overtime.

The Hawkeyes did pick off a pair of passes against the Huskers, snapping a streak of four games without an interception. While on the subject of turnovers, the Hawkeyes finished with a minus-5 turnover margin this season, its worst mark in at least the last seven years. Over the final four games, in which Iowa had a 1-3 record, the Hawkeyes were minus-7 in turnover margin.

Advantage: Iowa

Tennessee punter Matt Darr averages 42.5 yards per punt and has dropped 29 inside opponents' 20-yard line. Kicker Aaron Medley has made 19 of his 25 field goals. He's 1 for 6 on attempts of 40 yards or more and is 12 of 13 from the 30 to 39. Punt returner Cameron Sutton averages 11.2 yards on 13 returns and has returned one punt for a TD. Kick returner Evan Berry (above) averages 29.5 yards on 14 returns, and Devrin Young has 21.5 on 13 returns.

Tennessee finished No. 2 in the SEC in punt coverage (3.14 yards per return) and kick coverage (19.58 yards).

A lot went wrong for the Hawkeyes in the season finale against Nebraska, but this week Ferentz pointed to the back-to-back punt returns by the Huskers Demornay Pierson-El that spurred UNL's second-half comeback. He returned one 41 to set up a TD and then took the next one 80 yards for a score. The fact that DT Carl Davis blocked a field goal earlier in the game only punctuated Iowa's inconsistencies in special teams this season. At one point, the Hawkeyes led the Big Ten in kick returns with Parker leading the way. He let too many kicks hit the ground and was eventually replaced. Iowa ended up sixth in the league with 22.03 yards a return.

Advantage: Push

1. Who wants to be here — Clearly the answer to this is Tennessee. This is the Vols' first bowl game since 2010. The school sold out its first allotment of 8,000 tickets and went to work on another. Iowa finished at around 4,000. This is Ferentz's eighth Florida bowl in 16 seasons as coach (not a bad thing, Florida bowls usually mean good seasons). Tennessee is a young, hungry team that feels as thought it's building toward prominence in the SEC under Jones (who signed a contract extension through the 2020 season at $3.6 million per). There's positive momentum for Tennessee, which counters an Iowa team that is chasing the lost opportunity that was the 2014 season.

2. Iowa's QB thing — Iowa could find some energy through the competition that this could be. The last time QB was really on the table this season, Rudock answered with an impeccable performance against Indiana. And there's no denying that Beathard brought spark against Pitt and fought off what could've been a sluggish performance at Purdue. Iowa also could find some disarray in two QBs. It's not optimum in game 13 to be messing around with the position that a lot of teams have crossed off the list on day 1. Can the job be permanently won with a terrific performance by either player today? Probably not. It certainly will be interesting to watch this play out, still, not optimum.

3. Iowa's cussedness — Iowa is steadfast, hardheaded and has a rooted foundation. Maybe the Hawkeyes haven't reached it this season, at least not enough, but Ferentz's teams have mean streak that can, at times, carry it. It also needs to make its share of plays, but the cussedness counts and there's no better time for it to shoot out of their eyeballs than in the last game of the season.

Iowa will win if ...

The Hawkeyes can establish the running game and ride it out. Not just 'establish,' but if the Hawkeyes can sit on the Volunteers' chest for maybe 3 1/2 quarters. Dominate, in other words.

Tennessee will win if ...

It can pick up four sacks. That seems to be one of the magic numbers against the Hawkeyes. Also, what's a winning number for Dobbs in total offense? Let's put the over/under at 250 yards. Dobbs goes for more than that, it's a Vols' victory probably by double digits.

Prediction: Iowa 34, Tennessee 21