Tennessee football is entering its first open date of the 2025 season with strong vibes after knocking off Mississippi State 41-34 in overtime in Starkville. The Vols did not play great in their first road test of the season but they found a way to earn the win.
In that sense, there’s a number of similarities between Tennessee’s win at Mississippi State and its win at Pitt back in the 2022 season.
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Turnovers In An Underwhelming Offensive Performance
Tennessee’s offense proved to be the best in the country in 2022. The Vols look like they have a top 10 offense this season. But both games were underwhelming showings from the offense.
At Pitt in 2022, Tennessee’s offense scored 27 points in regulation. At Mississippi State, Tennessee’s offense scored 20 points in regulation. Tennessee struggled to get its running game going in both games, totaling 91 yards on the ground against Pitt and 137 yards on the ground against Mississippi State.
Jaylen Wright fumbled against Pitt and Joey Aguilar threw two interceptions against Mississippi State.
Special Teams Miscues
Tennessee muffed a punt against Mississippi State and also allowed the Bulldogs to move the sticks on a fake punt attempt.
The Panthers blocked a punt against Tennessee and a Trevon Flowers muffed punt set up Pitt’s game-tying fourth quarter touchdown drive.
Tennessee’s Defense Forces Big Turnovers
Tennessee’s defense stepped up and forced turnovers in both games. Against Pitt, Flowers intercepted a Kedon Slovis pass in the end zone which likely took three points off the board for the Panthers. Right before half, Tyler Baron strip sacked Slovis and set Tennessee up for an easy field goal to end the first half.
The two turnovers that Tennessee forced against Mississippi State were even more impactful. Colton Hood scored on a first half pick six. In the second half, Tyre West strip sacked Blake Shapen before Josh Josephs scooped-and-scored.
In both games, the Vols’ pass defense was good and run defense was shaky. But the forced turnovers were extremely important in both games.
Overtime Similarities
Pitt scored the late touchdown to force the game to overtime in 2022. It was Tennessee that scored the late touchdown and pushed the game to overtime against Mississippi State.
But once the game went to overtime, the similarities were pretty remarkable. Tennessee received the ball first in both games. It took Tennessee two plays to score against the Panthers with Hendon Hooker finding Cedric Tillman for a 28-yard score. The Vols scored on the first play of overtime against Mississippi State with DeSean Bishop running in from 25 yards out.
On defense, Pitt set itself up with first-and-goal at the 10-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. Mississippi State had it first-and-goal at the five-yard line before turning it over on downs.
The Betting Line Statistic
The most important similarity? Tennessee found a way to win a game on the road when they didn’t play its best. Those might be the only two games in the Josh Heupel era where that’s true.
Tennessee’s win at Mississippi State was the first time that the Vols had won but not covered as road favorites against Josh Heupel. But that’s a tad misleading because Tennessee only covered as 6.5-point favorites against Pitt because the game went into overtime.
This season, the SEC looks like a week-to-week league. Finding a way to win a road game when you don’t play your best is extremely important.
