It was a rough day in Pittsburgh, but Tennessee won XXXXX. Here are four quick examples of him when Tennessee won a ranked away opponent since his 2006.
1 — Survived a Disaster Start — Tennessee showed some resilience today after a rocky start to the first quarter. The Vols didn’t look ready to play early on, and luckily he didn’t end up worse than 10-0.
Tennessee looked out of sync early on with three outs on their first two drives. The normally reliable Hendon Hooker was a little off in the early laps with a few overthrows and the front seven in the pits looked a little salty.
The Panthers’ offense scored 10 points in their first two possessions and was highlighted by a 76-yard touchdown run from Israel Avankanda.
Pitt was threatening to make it 17-0 before Trevon Flowers made the biggest play of his career.
That play was a game changer.
Tennessee took advantage of the turnover and put together a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 10-7 and completely change the face of the game.
The Vols weren’t out of the woods yet, and Pitt extended their lead to 17-7 on the next possession, but the offense started to pick up on the final possession of the first quarter.
In retrospect, the Vols’ ability to force a field goal was great after Pitt reached the Tennessee 12-yard line on the second possession.
2 — 2nd Quarter Spike — It’s been an uneven afternoon for Tennessee on both sides, but they’ve done enough in the second quarter to come out victorious, and the struggles the Vols had in the second quarter of 2021 are well documented. It’s somewhat ironic, considering that
Hooker passed for 116 yards in the quarter, going 5-for-7, and scored one on Cedric Tillman and a 52-yard bomb.
Tennessee played 17 times in the quarter and scored 17 points. Not a bad percentage. The Vols turned from a 17-7 deficit to a 24-17 halftime lead with 13:25 remaining.
After a very rough start to the game, the defense came off the field on three consecutive possessions, including a fourth downstop after Pitt reached the Tennessee 27.
Thanks to Josh Heupel and his staff for that second quarter. Tennessee rarely got their way in the first quarter. After a start like that, it can be difficult to turn things around away.
The Vols didn’t falter, but took control of the game going into halftime after that second quarter. Now, what they did in the 3rd quarter is another story, he squandered two chances to clean things up, but thanks to the 2nd quarter, they’re back in Knoxville victorious. had enough cushion for
Tennessee’s struggles in the second half only underscored how big two-quarter 17 points were, as they only scored three points in the second half.
3 — Defense will drive some fans crazy — Today we give the Tennessee defense a big tip for Caps. Things didn’t get off to a worse start than they did, but the Vols regrouped and did enough to win.
Pit’s first three drives all went deep into Tennessee territory, and the Vols were lucky that those drives resulted in just 10 points.
The second quarter didn’t get off to a great start when pitt tight end Gavin Bartholomew ran for a 57-yard touchdown, slamming a Tennessee defender in the process and making the Panthers 17-7. .
The Vols responded but ran 17 unanswered points to lead 24-17 in the first half.
After Bartholomew’s touchdown, Pitt had three more possessions in the second quarter. Of these he had three possessions, with the Vols stopping 27th to 4th and his 3rd. Forced a punt and on the final possession of the half, Tyler Barron stripped to get his sack and field goal and he brought his halftime lead to 7 points.
Pitt had 281 total yards of offense in the first half, but the Vols led to seven at the half thanks to two forced turnovers.
Another big plus for the defense is the pressure we were able to put on Kedon Slobis. The Vols had two pucks in the first half, but got to Slovis much more times than that and gave him some big hits. on the turf and did not return to the game in the second half.
Tennessee still needs to do a better job coming home with four pass rushers, but it was a nice bounce back after failing to come up with a sack in the first week.
Tyler Barron showed up all day. He recorded his one big sack, but he created a lot of pressure.
Tennessee finished the day with four sacks.
4 — Haste — There were a lot of big plays on both sides today, but Trevon Flowers sacked Nick Patty for 12 yards in extra time, forcing Pitt to score from 21 for fourth.
It was a big day for Cedric Tillman, who had 9 catches and 1 point for 162 yards. It may have been a great day, but Tillman dropped what would become another long touchdown catch.
Jarrin Hyatt had a career-high 11 catches for 77 yards on the day.
Hooker currently holds the Tennessee school record of 167 pass attempts without an interception.
An incredibly bad day for the Vols special teams. They blocked a punt in the third quarter, with Trevon Flowers fumbled with a muff on the punt return and Pitt recovered at the Voles’ 39-yard line.
Chase McGrath’s big kick made a career 51-yard field goal to give Tennessee a 7-point lead with 8:57 remaining.
Bull McCoy’s huge play on the Vols’ first possession of the fourth quarter. In the 3rd and 8th quarters, he caught balls short of his stick, took first downs, and fought for extra distance to maintain his drive.
A tough day for the offensive line. Tennessee never ran the ball consistently, gaining 91 yards on 35 carries, and hookers were frequently under pressure. He was fired three times and was washed out of his pocket multiple times.
On the first watch Kamal Hadden looked like he did a great job on the first start. He was his second on the team when he made seven tackles and experienced his breakup pass.
Aaron Beasley had two nice games in a row and recorded a team-high 14 tackles.
Tennessee chipped as many passes today as I can remember in the game. Jeremy Banks got a couple. Omari Thomas also at least he had two deflections.
After throwing complete games to seven different receivers last week, Huepel and Alex Goresh are back in their 2021 form, with significantly shorter rotations.
Only 3 starting wideouts. McCoy, Cedric Tillman and Jarin Hyatt caught the ball against the Panthers.
Tennessee got a big break early in the fourth quarter with Pitt facing second and scoring from the Vols’ 5-yard line. Panthers wideout Jared Wayne was called in to hold the quarterback scramble. This is a penalty backed up pit outside the 10-yard line. An arduous play that essentially took four points off the board when Pitt was forced to kick a field goal after two plays.
Tennessee benefited from two big replay reviews today. One nullified a Pitt interception at the end of the first half, and the Vols kicked a field goal two plays later. I took it away.
