How It Happened: No. 9 Tennessee 30, Austin Peay 13
Tennessee football overcame a slow start to beat Austin Peay 30-13 Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. Here’s how it happened, as it happened:
FIRST QUARTER
Austin Peay 3, Tennessee 0 (11:06, 1Q): Austin Peay got the ball first and went 48 yards over eight plays to open the scoring with a 45-yard field goal from Maddux Trujillo. The scoring drive was fueled by a 45-yard run by Mike DiLiello on fourth-and-2.
Tennessee 3, Austin Peay 3 (5:53, 1Q): After back-to-back three-and-outs, Warren Burrell recovered an Austin Peay fumbled punt at the 14-yard line, but the Vols had to settle for a 29-yard field gaol from Charles Campbell to tie the game. Quarterback Joe Milton went just 1-for-6 for 11 yards over Tennessee’s first three drives.
SECOND QUARTER
Austin Peay 6, Tennessee 3 (8:16, 2Q): Austin Peay went 67 yards over 12 plays, taking 6:39 off the clock, on its way to its second field goal of the day. This time Trujillo connected on a 34-yard field goal to put the Govs back ahead.
Tennessee 6, Austin Peay 6 (4:55, 2Q): Tennessee answered another Austin Peay field goal with a second field goal of its own. This time Charles Campbell connected from 37 yards out to tie the game. The drive for the Vols went 84 yards over nine plays and was fueled by a 38-yard run from Jabari Small. Offensive pass interference on Squirrel White and a holding call on Bru McCoy stalled the drive.
Tennessee 13, Austin Peay 6 (0:15, 2Q): Tennessee finally got in the end zone with 15 seconds left in the first half, when Joe Milton ran six yards for the score on a quarterback draw on third down. The drive went 67 yards on 11 plays, taking 2:04 off the clock.
THIRD QUARTER
Tennessee 20, Austin Peay 6 (13:30, 3Q): Tennessee got the ball to start the second half and made it back-to-back touchdown drives, going 66 yards on five plays with Joe Milton finding Ramel Keyton on a 5-yard touchdown pass to get back in the end zone. Jaylen Wright had runs of 26 and 31 yards on the drive.
Tennessee 23, Austin Peay 6 (6:33, 3Q): Tennessee added another Charles Campbell, this one from 22 yards, to cap an eight-play, 44-yard drive that took 2:30 off the clock. The drive stalled on the Austin Peay four-yard line with a pair of Tennessee incompletions.
FOURTH QUARTER
Tennessee 23, Austin Peay 13 (9:01, 4Q): Busted coverage in the Vols’ secondary allowed Austin Peay’s Mike DiLiello to hit Trey Goodman for a 52-yard walk-in touchdown, the first of the game for the Governors. The drive went 90 yards on six plays.
Tennessee 30, Austin Peay 13 (8:03, 4Q): The Vols struck back in just three plays, going 75 yards with Joe Milton hitting tight end McCallan Castles for a 43-yard touchdown to get the lead back to 17.
FINAL STATS
Joe Milton completed 21 of 33 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns … Jaylen Wright carried 13 times for 124 yards and Jabari Small had 13 rushes for 97 yards … Dylan Sampson carried only three times for eight yards … Milton ran three times for 14 yards.
Ramel Keyton caught five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown … Bru McCoy had five catches for 51 yards … Squirrel White had four catches for 30 yards and Wright caught three passes out of the backfield for 18 yards.
