With more Vol fans than Kentucky fans inside Kroger Field in the fourth quarter, Tennessee football used an explosive offensive performance to knock off the Wildcats 56-34 on Saturday night in Lexington.
The Vols defense struggled but created two huge turnovers while Tennessee’s offense turned in its best performance of the season. Here’s four quick takeaways on the Vols’ lopsided win.
Tennessee’s Defense Keeps Forcing Turnovers
Tennessee football’s defense has had a number of issues this season but they’ve still been a decent unit because of its ability to force turnovers and negative plays. That was on display against Kentucky, especially in the first quarter as the Vols built a convincing lead.
With Tennessee leading 7-0, Kentucky had it third-and-10 at the Vols 44-yard line. Tim Banks dialed up the blitz. Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley got it off quickly but a blitzing Edrees Farooq batted it in the air, ran under it and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.
Fast forward to one of the final plays of the first quarter. Kentucky fumbled the ball three separate times on a third-and-long play. Boo Carter forced the last of the three fumbles and Jadon Perlotte was there to recover setting Tennessee’s offense up with first-and-goal.
It took the Vols’ offense four plays to get it done but they did with DeSean Bishop punching it in from just a few inches away to give Tennessee a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter. The fast start put
A Crucial End To The First Half
A holding penalty backed Kentucky up to its own four-yard line as it got the ball back trailing 28-14 midway through the second quarter. It’s when Kentucky put together its best drive of the night.
The Wildcats converted three times on third down and once on fourth down as Tennessee was unable to get off the field after pushing Kentucky into second-and-19. The end result was a 16-play, 96-yard touchdown drive in 8:35. It cut Tennessee’s lead to seven points with 1:37 left in the half.
With Kentucky receiving the ball to open the second half, Tennessee needed to go get points to end the first half. They got it done with one of its better drives of the season. Ethan Davis had a huge third down catch to get across midfield before Aguilar found Braylon Staley to get the Vols to the 13-yard line with nine seconds remaining.
Tennessee likely had time for just one throw to the end zone. They avoided the end of first half disaster from the week before with Aguilar finding Davis down the seam for a touchdown to push Tennessee’s lead back to 14 points at halftime. That set the stage for Tennessee opening up the game in the third quarter.
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Joey Aguilar Bounces Back
Joey Aguilar played his worst game of the season last week in Tennessee’s loss at Alabama. Josh Heupel has often complimented Aguilar’s ability to bounce back amidst games this season. The Vols’ quarterback showed that ability to bounce back from one game to another against Kentucky.
Aguilar came out fast, throwing for 74 yards on the first drive of the game and it did not slow down over the course of the night. He finished the game completing 20-of-26 passes for 396 yards and three touchdowns.
Aguilar was phenomenal throwing deep balls, connecting with Mike Matthews for a 62-yard touchdown and completing six passes for over 20 yards. Speaking of bounce backs, Chris Brazzell came back on the scene in a big way after a pair of quiet performances.
Brazzell caught passes of 35 yards, 47 yards and 50 yards on his way to a four-catch, 138-yard and one touchdown performance in the win.
The Vols’ passing attack had struggled in recent games. Kentucky’s pass defense is bad but Tennessee finding its groove is a positive sign for what this offense can be down the stretch.
Tennessee’s Defensive Issues Persist
Kentucky hadn’t scored more than 20 points in a SEC game in two years. They scored 34 points and five touchdowns against Tennessee. The Wildcats offense has been unable to create chunk plays this season but had 71 and 56 yard touchdown passes against Tennessee.
The Wildcats moved the ball pretty consistently, finishing the game with 476 total yards including 330 through the air in a game where Tennessee had just one sack.
Now some context does matter here. Tennessee forced the two turnovers that led to scores. The Vols also got two stops to begin the second half which helped them open things up and put the game away. Kentucky scored touchdowns on its final two drives when the game was well in hand.
But there’s no doubt that this defense has some serious issues that just won’t fix themselves this season. The inability to slow down Kentucky’s offense, even in a lopsided game, is the latest sign.
