Tennessee added a new wrinkle to the offense and it's something college football teams absolutely need in order to win a championship

Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle confirmed on Tuesday while speaking with reporters that UT added an important new wrinkle to the offense during the offseason.

And it's a wrinkle that, in recent years, college football teams have needed in order to win a national championship.

In Tennessee's win against Syracuse, quarterback Joey Aguilar threw a delayed screen to running back DeSean Bishop that went for 21 yards. That's a play that we haven't really seen from the Vols' offense under Josh Heupel.

Halzle said on Tuesday that Tennessee made a conscious effort during the offseason to find ways to get the running backs more involved in the passing game.

"As soon as January hits, no matter what the previous season looked like, how can we be better?" said Halzle when asked about involving the running backs more in the passing game. "And we felt like being more multiple -- including the backs in the pass game, including the backs in wide sets, and getting them out in space -- it does nothing but help us.

"We like all of our backs. We like them carrying the football in the box. Why don’t we like them out on the edge running with the football? Now they, to your point, have to have the skill set to be able to do that -- and we feel like they do. So getting them in space, getting them in grass is something that we’re looking to do. How do we do it every week? What’s a creative way we can get a guy a ball in grass and let him go play?”

Earlier this offseason, I noted that each of the last six national champions in college football had at least 50 receptions over the course of the season from their running backs.

Tennessee, meanwhile, has averaged just 27 receptions per season from its running backs during the Josh Heupel era.

2024: Ohio State — 50 receptions
2023: Michigan — 50 receptions
2022: Georgia — 66 receptions
2021: Georgia — 62 receptions
2020: Alabama — 51 receptions (Covid shortened season)
2019: LSU — 79 receptions

For whatever reason, 50 seems to be the magic number for running back receptions on a championship team in the current era of college football.

Now, there are plenty of teams that get that many receptions from their running backs and don't win a championship. It's not a magic answer that's going to guarantee that Tennessee is playing deep into January. But it's something that championship teams have done in recent seasons. Those completions to running backs often come on check downs, or screens in second-and-long and third-and-long situations -- which can quickly flip the momentum of a drive (is there anything worse than an opposing quarterback checking it down to the running back on third-and-15 and picking up the first down....that's a momentum killer for the defense).

Tennessee only completed three passes against Syracuse to running backs, so there's still more there for the Vols. But the good news is that Tennessee's offensive staff recognizes that it's an important wrinkle, and it sounds like they're going to continue to find ways to get the running backs more involved in the passing game moving forward.

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