Tennessee football bounced back from its first loss of the season by dominating UAB 56-24 Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium. The Vols scored touchdowns on six of seven first half drives before cruising to the victory. Here’s four quick takeaways on the win.
Tennessee Starts Fast With One Misstep
Tennessee has made a living of obliterating overmatched non conference foes under Josh Heupel’s leadership. It was no different for the Vols against UAB as Tennessee showed no hangover from its heartbreaking loss against Georgia a week ago.
The Vols won the toss and elected to receive, promptly going 75 yards on seven plays capped off by a 19-yard Chris Brazzell touchdown. After a three-and-out, Joey Aguilar found Mike Matthews for a 39-yard touchdown on a beautiful deep ball.
Tennessee’s lone first quarter miscue came the ensuing drive when an Aguilar pass hit off Brazzell’s shoulder pads and went straight in the air for a Pierre Royster interception. It looked like a missed pass interference call as the corner beat the ball to Brazzell. But from there, the Vols continued to roll jumping out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and a 28-0 lead to begin the game.
The Vols have been great in the first quarter this season, outscoring their first four opponents 83-7 and scoring on 12 of 15 drives.
The Vols Running Backs Live In The End Zone
Tennessee scored its first two touchdowns through the air with the previously mentioned connections between Aguilar and Brazzell and then Matthews. But from there, Tennessee’s offense largely found the end zone on the ground.
DeSean Bishop twice found the end zone, first from three yards out and then again from two yards out. Star Thomas found the end zone from one-yard out to cap off a drive where he carried the ball six straight times for 36 yards.
Thomas found the end zone on the opening drive of the second half, taking a shovel option 17 yards for a touchdown.
Third string running back Peyton Lewis made sure Tennessee’s top three backs all found the end zone. Tennessee drew up the speed option on third-and-four and Lewis rumbled into the end zone untouched from 32 yards out. It was the longest run of his young career.
More From RTI: Which Tennessee Football Players Are Out Against UAB
Jake Merklinger Report
Tennessee played Aguilar one drive in the second half, leading a seventh touchdown drive before making way for Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre.
The Vols’ offense stalled after making moves to their reserves. Merklinger played four drives. Tennessee picked up one first down on his first drive in before punting and then used nine plays to gain 18 yards and punt the next drive. Tennessee, again, picked up one first down before punting on his third drive in the game.
Merklinger was not overly decisive throwing the ball, completing just three-of-eight passes for 58 yards. He ran the ball twice, losing one yard.
George MacIntyre didn’t get to play after UAB put together a six-minute touchdown drive and gave Tennessee the ball back with less than a minute to play. Merklinger remained in the game for the final four plays of the game.
A Couple Re-Occurring Mistakes
Not to be too negative in a 32-point win but Tennessee did make a pair of mistakes that have happened in other games this season so I think it is worth touching on.
First, Aguilar and Bishop put the ball on the ground with miss-communication on the mesh point. Aguilar jumped on the ball to limit the damage and keep it as just a three-yard loss and not a turnover. Tennessee lost a fumble against Syracuse on miss-communication on the mesh point.
Tennessee has also had two bad snaps this season, losing the fumble on one of them. I mentioned in my three keys story that I didn’t want Tennessee to have a mesh point fumble or a bad snap. They didn’t have any bad snaps but the mesh point issue showed up again.
While Tennessee did not lose the fumble on the mesh point, they lost one early in the third quarter when Boo Carter muffed a punt. It was the second straight game that Carter muffed a punt. Carter is electric with the ball in his hands but just has to clean that up.
With the Vols’ offense improved this season, they don’t need to be desperately searching for return yards. If the issue continues then they need to put Duane Morris or Braylon Staley back to return punts.
