Former Vols offensive lineman who played under Josh Heupel reveals why Tennessee's offense struggles on the road

It's no secret that the Tennessee Vols aren't quite as good on the road under Josh Heupel as they are at home.

Of course, that's true of every team in the SEC. Playing on the road in the SEC is always a unique challenge due to the incredible atmospheres that each venue in the conference provides.

Tennessee has won some big games on the road under Heupel -- at LSU in 2022 and Oklahoma in 2024 stand out -- but they've had some stinkers, too (at South Carolina in 2022, at Missouri in 2023, at Arkansas in 2024).

The Vols actually aren't as bad on the road as some fans and folks in the media think -- the Knoxville News Sentinel Adam Sparks pointed out this week that the only SEC coach with more wins on the road over ranked opponents than Heupel since the start of the 2021 season is Georgia's Kirby Smart.

Still, there's no doubt that Tennessee's offense isn't quite as dynamic on the road as it is in Neyland Stadium.

Former Vols offensive lineman Ollie Lane explains why Tennessee's offense has struggled at times on the road

Former Vols offensive lineman Ollie Lane, who played at Tennessee from 2018 to 2023, joined The Sports Source this week and he explained why the Vols' offense has struggled at times on the road.

Lane noted that it's harder for Tennessee's offense to utilize tempo on the road due to the crowd noise. Even when the offense gets in a rhythm, things still slow down because the quarterback has to relay the proper signals and make sure everyone understands the call (which is why you sometimes see a bunch pre-snap penalties from the Vols on the road). Everything is slowed down when the opposing fans get loud.

"Theoretically, it's going to slow everything down for you," explained Lane. "You can't snap everything as fast as you want to. Because not only [is] your quarterback still having to make sure everybody's set, but then you're also having to give some type of silent signal to a guard to then tell the center, 'Hey, we got to snap the football'. Then the center's got to tell everybody, 'Hey, I'm about to snap the football'. And then we snap the football. So it takes up more time. And then you're also still trying to get play calls.

"There's no verbal communication that's really happening outside of your core five to six guys that are in the center there. And so you're trying to pass out communication left and right. There's going to be more opportunities that your guys aren't going to see signals out there. And so it just it slows everything down. And what we've seen so far is when tempo gets slowed down, you start to see the cracks. You start to see things not come together. There's a lot more chances to get penalties that are going to get you behind the chains, which effectively kills tempo on drives. So I mean, just everything that could be a factor to work against you is really dialed up to 10 when you go on the road --especially in the SEC."

Playing on the road is especially tough for teams that use tempo. Even when things are seemingly going well, it's still tough. And it can go south at any minute.

Tempo, however, isn't the sole identity of Tennessee's offense -- it's simply a weapon the Vols use.

Tennessee is still a good team when their tempo isn't as effective -- we saw the Vols reach the College Football Playoff last season with the offense operating at a slower tempo. It just makes it a bit more of a challenge for the Vols when the tempo isn't as effective as a weapon. It's kind of like when a stud pitcher can't locate his fastball consistently -- it then makes his secondary pitches easier to lay off. The pitcher can still battle and get outs, but it's a lot more stressful. That's essentially Tennessee's offense on the road.

The good news for the Vols is that Tennessee seems much more comfortable this season operating out of different formations and with different tempos (they'll slow things down when they need to).

We'll see just how comfortable they are on the road, though, on Saturday evening when the Volunteers travel to Starkville for a road matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

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