By: John Dunn
(Founder/Host/Managing Editor)
The All Vol Call in Show
20210918
Just as they should, the Tennessee Volunteers took care of business against the visiting Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles from just down the road in Cookeville. Unfortunately for the Vols, there were some things that they absolutely could not afford to happen, that happened.
In games such as these, it's imperative to get through the games as cleanly as possible. By that, I mean that it's critical to suffer as few injuries and setbacks as possible. Unfortunately, Tennessee suffered more than their share of setbacks against the Eagles, with a multitude of injuries to players such as Cedric Tillman, Cade Mays, Kingston Harris, and others.
However, there were also some promising moments in a game against substandard competition. Coming into the game, Tennessee was 116th in the nation in turnover margin. With four interceptions on the day, they made a dent in that ratio. They also lost one fumble.
Hendon Hooker looked very efficient on the day, with the exception of the fumble. Hooker was 17/25 for 199 yards passing for three touchdowns, with nine carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Jaylen Wright and Tiyon Evans had one rushing touchdown each, with Wright totaling 44 yards on the ground, and Evans tallying 41 yards on the ground.
The Vols totaled 410 yards of offense, scoring 56 points, while allowing only 172 yards of offense, and zero points. Tennessee also played a much cleaner game this week in terms of penalties, accruing only 35 yards on three penalties.
With the game well in hand, Josh Heupel elected to insert sophomore quarterback Harrison Bailey into the game. Bailey looked shaky in the first few plays, missing a potentially big connection with former Marietta teammate Ramel Keyton in his first deep pass attempt. However, on his second drive, after working the ball down field behind the legs of the running backs, Bailey scampered into the endzone from 2-yards out to add a rushing touchdown to his Tennessee resume'.
All-in-all, outside of the injuries, whether minor or major, Tennessee did exactly what they were supposed to do, and took care of business against a team that just isn't as good as they are, padding some important stats in the process.
Next up: The Vols open SEC play against Florida in The Swamp; a place they haven't won since 2001. Kick-off is slated for 7:30.