The mix of Tennessee's offensive scheme, personnel, and tempo make it a nightmare for defensive coordinators.
Just ask Alabama. The Vols put up 567 yards and 52 points against Nick Saban's Crimson Tide a few weeks ago, and needed every bit of the record-breaking performance for their 52-49 win in Knoxville.
The Vols square off against Georgia on Saturday, and Kirby Smart and his staff have been introducing aspects of the Vols dating back to the summer, and were able to sprinkle some Tennessee looks (as well as three or so other teams) in during their bye week as well.
Kirby and his staff clearly have a tremendous amount of respect for the Vols, and know that they present some unique challenges that you doom you come game day if you took just a week to prepare for them.
A big part of that preparation when it comes to Josh Heupel's Tennessee squad is conditioning and strategically subbing because of they tempo they play at. The Vols are currently averaging about 75 plays per game and are gaining 7.4 yards per play on average.
That mix of tempo and efficiency is something they've been preparing for from a conditioning aspect dating back prior to their off season workouts.
"You can't get your players in shape in one week. If you're not in shape, then you did something long before."
"We've been building for this week, in terms of, since week one, the conditioning level of our players has been a concern every week for me. One of my major concerns is, are you in good enough shape? Because if you're not, you can't make it up in one week. That's one of those things that we work very hard on. I don't know how many other teams condition in the country, but we do a lot because I think it is really important."
"We're going to find out on Saturday if we're in shape or not, I can promise you that, because they're going to try to get a lot of snaps in."
Keep a close eye on how Kirby and the Georgia defensive staff sub during the game on Saturday, as Smart shared in his media availability this week that they've got their typical weekly sub packages and have a detailed plan on how to get guys on and off the field while Tennessee is playing with their signature tempo.
Hear more from Kirby in the clip.