Tennessee’s offense has created a routine of opening drive scores under head coach Josh Heupel and that’s especially been the case against group of five opponents where they’ve frequently trounced opponents in the first quarter.
But the Vols’ first drive against New Mexico State ended with Jamall Thompson Jr stepping in front of Miles Kitselman and wrestling the ball away from the senior tight end to intercept a Joey Aguilar pass. It was the first of two Aguilar interceptions in Tennessee’s 42-9 win over the Aggies on Saturday evening.
Aguilar’s second interception came in the second half when he sailed a pass well over freshman receiver Radarious Jackson’s head and into the chest of a New Mexico State safety. Aguilar expressed with Jackson running back to the sideline so maybe there was miscommunication on the depth of the route.
“The one (to Miles Kitselman) is intermediate concept,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said postgame. “Ball is a little bit inside. We got to go close out and finish on the play, too. And he’s moving in the pocket on the second one. He saw the post player, was actually trying to throw the over. (His) body may not have been in a great position and he gets hit a little bit on the play and the ball just sails on him, two plays that we have to go execute and can’t be turnovers.”
Kitselman definitely deserves a bit of the blame for the first interception and maybe Jackson deserves some of the blame for the second interception. Either way, Aguilar putting the ball in harm’s way twice and throwing two interceptions led to a sloppy first half against New Mexico State.
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It also marked Aguilar’s fourth interception and fifth overall turnover in Tennessee’s last two games. Aguilar was strip sacked against Oklahoma and also threw a pair of costly interceptions in Sooners territory in the first half of the Vols’ loss.
Interceptions were a major concern entering the season for Aguilar after he threw 14 last season at Appalachian State. Aguilar had largely quieted those concerns through the first eight games. He had thrown six interceptions through the first eight games and only one interception in the three games before Oklahoma. But the four interceptions in the last two games have been highly significant.
“Just keep trusting myself, keep trusting my players,” Aguilar said on correcting mistakes. “Sometimes I throw a bad ball, sometimes I don’t. And defense will make a play, sometimes they won’t. So just go out there and just keep the confidence that I have and just go out there and play.”
To put it in perspective, five interceptions was the previous high that a Tennessee quarterback had thrown in a single season under Heupel. Aguilar has almost matched that number the last two games and the Vols desperately need him to clean it up before the final two games of the season.
Florida’s offense ranks 15th in the SEC in scoring and in offensive yards per game. Tennessee needs to avoid the mistakes it made against Oklahoma and make the Gators offense move the ball down the field to score points. Vanderbilt plays ball control with a strong running game. Any wasted possession from Tennessee will be significant and self inflicted mistakes will be all the more costly.
