Josh Heupel’s first two Tennessee teams often made its hay by coming out fast on offense and jumping on its opponents in the game’s first quarter. A quarter of the way through the 2025 season and Tennessee’s offense is showing a similar tendency.
Tennessee scored touchdowns on three of four first quarter drives and jumped out to a 21-0 lead over UAB Saturday afternoon before coasting to a 56-24 victory.
“Early, I thought for the majority of it, handled themselves really well,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said postgame. “Made some big plays on the perimeter, hit some runs offensively. Defensively, did a pretty good job against the run and we were able to get off the field on third downs. So it was a good fast start, certainly early in the football game.”
But it hasn’t just been UAB that Tennessee has been starting fast against. Through four games, Tennessee has scored on 12 of 15 first quarter drives this season. The Vols have scored touchdowns on 10 of those drives, settling for field goals on two others.
Add a defensive touchdown against Syracuse and Tennessee is outscoring opponents 83-7 in the first quarter of games this season.
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Tennessee has dominated ETSU and UAB early in games, scoring six touchdowns and a field goal in nine first quarter drives in those games, but there’s reason to believe that it’s not just the strength of schedule that’s leading to early game offensive success.
Most notably, the Vols scored three touchdowns in three first quarter drives a week ago against Georgia. Tennessee scored a touchdown, made a field and fumbled in scoring range against Syracuse.
Tennessee’s early game offensive success is a far cry from a season ago when they failed to score in the first half of SEC matchups with Arkansas, Florida and Alabama.
Heupel’s early game scripts have been elite in his time at Tennessee and that remained true last season. Execution was often Tennessee’s biggest issues early in games. The Vols fumbled deep in enemy territory on their opening drives against both Florida and Alabama.
Tennessee is now 3-1 on the season with upcoming matchups against Mississippi State and Arkansas. The Vols will be favorites against both teams with good offenses and bad defenses. Starting fast would set the tone and diminish hopes of a upset.
