Tennessee takes down UTSA: Four quick takes

Tennessee’s final tune-up before the SEC grind begins in earnest unfolded about like you’d expect with the exception of a hiccup in the third quarter. Here are four quick takes on the Vols 45-14 win over UTSA.

1 — Start quick — How Tennessee would come out today after last week’s disappointment at Florida was a question on the minds of many this week. The Vols answered that question in a hurry.

Joe Milton went 81 yards for a touchdown on a zone read on the first play from scrimmage and the rout was on.

Tennessee scored touchdowns on four of its first five offensive possessions and they did so while playing with the kind of tempo that was missing for much of the game last week at Florida.

The Vols’ first four touchdown drives were as follows:

1 play, 79 yards, 00:14
9 plays, 62 yards, 2:56
2 plays, 43 yards, 00:26
4 plays 60 yards, 1:17

The Vols weren’t perfect in the first half, but they were pretty solid, and certainly didn’t seem like they were dealing with a Florida hangover.

Tennessee racked up 359 yards of total offense in the first half, averaging 9.7 yards per play, while holding UTSA to just 98 yards.

This was a game that Tennessee was going to win regardless barring a total meltdown, but after last week it was fair to wonder how they would respond. Would they be focused? Would they get up for an inferior opponent that wasn’t likely to push them? Would they execute at a high level?

Tennessee answered all those questions in the affirmative (in the first half anyway) with the way they started the game and put UTSA in a 31-0 hole at halftime.

And then the third quarter happened.

2 — Defense was dominant early, but… — The Vols laid the smack down on the UTSA offense in the first half. The visitors managed just 98 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.

Tennessee held UTSA to just 37 yards rushing in the first half and a minuscule 2.5 yards per play. The Roadrunners were just 3-of-11 on third downs in the first half leading to them rolling the dice several times on fourth down where they were 1-of-3 in the first half.

On the Roadrunners lone trip into the red zone in the first half the Vols came up with a stop on 4th & 3 to keep them off the scoreboard. Tyler Baron came up with his fourth sack of the season.

The defense generated a turnover via a Tamarion McDonald interception, and McDonald added a sack.

Aaron Beasley had a great first half with seven tackles and a TFL.

Then UTSA made a quarterback change at the half and the wheels fell off for a couple of series (more below).

I will give the defense credit though, after UTSA scored on consecutive drives to open the third quarter and cut the lead to 31-14, they regrouped and forced a three and out to prevent things from really getting interesting.

Outside of those two drives for UTSA in the third quarter it was a solid day for the defense, but they certainly lost the thread for a couple of series.

3 — That third quarter…yikes — It looked like we were cruising towards a blowout with Tennessee up 31-0 at the half and with UTSA having failed to pick up even 100 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.

The Roadrunners, who got the ball to start the third quarter, made a quarterback change at the half and it paid immediate dividends. Owen McNown came into the game and got hot quick.

McNown started out 10-for-10 and led touchdown drives on UTSA’s first two possessions of the second half.

The first scoring drive for the visitors was a 14 play, 75 yard marathon that took half of the third quarter. UTSA converted a pair of 3rd & 7s along the way to keep the drive alive.

Meanwhile, Tennessee responded to the Roadrunner’s first touchdown of the game by going three and out.

This next UTSA touchdown drive happened in a blink of an eye. The three play, 68 yard drive was capped by a 43 yard touchdown pass from McNown to Alcoa native Tykee Ogle-Kellog and included an ugly missed tackle from Brandon Turnage that would have limited it to a gain of less than 10.

At that point, what had been a 31-0 yawner suddenly had the potential to get interesting if UTSA could get a stop and a score.

They got the stop, but the couldn’t add the score as the Vols’ defense came through when they needed to.

After each team had two possessions in the third quarter UTSA had 145 yards of total offense compared to 19 for Tennessee.

The Vols did regroup and put up two quick touchdowns early in the fourth quarter to salt things away, but for a moment there things had the potential to get dicey.

4 — Quick hits — If I never see another quick wide receiver screen that would be just fine with me.

Joe Milton was ‘on’ in the first half, when he started 14-of-16 and threw two touchdowns. Milton then went through a stretch from late in the second quarter to midway through the third where he was 0-for-8 and not surprisingly, the offense stalled.

Milton did pick it back up though when he led two touchdown drives on his last two series’ of work. What he did not do was quiet the critics who have been vocal about the lack of consistency from the Vols’ quarterback position.

Jourdan Thomas partially blocked a punt in the first quarter but it didn’t benefit Tennessee because Cam Seldon tried to pounce on the loose ball, couldn’t control it and UTSA recovered and got a new set of downs. Not smart football.

This looked like a game that would provide Tennessee with ample opportunity to play a ton of guys. The Vols did just that, especially on defense, and it started early in the game.

We may be missing someone here, but here is a list of ‘young’ guys or guys who normally don’t get in early, who played in the first half today:

Jourdan Thomas (safety and star), Brandon Turnage (corner), Rickey Gibson (corner), Andre Turrentine (safety), Daevin Hobbs (DL), Josh Josephs (didn’t play last week), Kalib Perry (linebacker).

On offense Kaleb Webb was in early and snagged his first career touchdown pass. Gerald Mincey played at both right and left tackle.

Nico Iamaleava didn’t get in the game until midway through the fourth quarter, and even though the stands were half empty he might have generated the biggest crowd response of the game when he took the field.

The level of competition has to be taken into account, but maybe Dylan Sampson deserves to be a bigger part of the offense. Sampson picked up 139 yards on just 11 carries with a pair of touchdowns.