The Tennessee football story is a complicated one, but it is also a story of redemption in 2022. If UT wants to make the College Football Playoff, it needs to solve the puzzle that is the Kentucky football defense. Jalin Hyatt, though, is not the X-factor for the Vols against Mark Stoops' Big Blue defense. It is someone else.

Bru McCoy is the Tennessee football X-factor in game vs Kentucky football

Bru McCoy is the true X-factor for Tennessee against Kentucky. Why is this the case? Let’s look at this idea from multiple vantage points. First of all, McCoy made a catch very late in the Volunteers’ win over Alabama which set up the game-winning field goal for the Big Orange. McCoy wasn’t the leading receiver in that game – Hyatt was – but McCoy certainly made a high-leverage play which validated his decision to transfer to Tennessee from USC in the offseason. This should give McCoy confidence for this game and serve as a catalyst for even greater production within the Vols’ offense.

The other really important point to make about McCoy is that with Jalin Hyatt getting so much attention from opposing defenses, someone else in the Tennessee receiver corps will have to step up and become that main second option for quarterback Hendon Hooker. Everyone knows that Hooker is a frontline Heisman Trophy candidate, arguably the frontrunner for the award. Hooker is trying to fend off Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and TCU quarterback Max Duggan for the prestigious award. He will probably need McCoy to elevate his performance as a receiver if that is going to happen.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is an elite defensive coach. Kentucky has won 10 games in multiple seasons over the past five years because its defense has been particularly strong in the SEC. The Tennessee offense poses a huge challenge to the Kentucky defense, but Stoops has often met the biggest challenges of his career. If Tennessee is going to avoid stepping in a pothole against the Stoops defense posed by the Wildcats, Bru McCoy naturally emerges as a prime candidate to help Jalin Hyatt and give Tennessee the ability to attack Kentucky from different angles. Hyatt’s matchup will occupy one part of the field. McCoy is going to get single coverage in his matchup, and if he manages to win some contested catches, that could be the leverage Tennessee needs to gain the upper hand against Kentucky’s defense and make it even harder for the Wildcats to account for every Vol pass catcher. If Kentucky is uncertain about which receivers to cover, that will also make it easier for Tennessee to establish the running game and give Hooker a chance to make plays with his legs, which he is capable of doing.

Bru McCoy could unlock so many possibilities for the Tennessee offense, primarily in the passing game but also in the running game. When viewed from a lot of different vantage points, he becomes more central – not less – in shaping the direction of Tennessee’s season and in affecting the outcome of this game against the Kentucky football brick wall.

Also consider that since Kentucky’s offense has been relatively ordinary this season, the Wildcats – realizing that they are unlikely to win a shootout – will try to control the ball. If they succeed in doing that, Tennessee will have fewer possessions in which to score. That will reduce McCoy’s margin for error … but it also means that any big play he makes will have an even bigger impact in such a scenario.