What Tony Elliott, Virginia coaches and players said about 49-13 loss to No. 12 Tennessee

NASHVILLE — No. 12 Tennessee’s defense shined on Saturday in the season-opening 49-13 win over Virginia. The Vols gave up just 201 total yards — 106 passing, 95 rushing — and had four sacks and 11 tackles for loss. 

Josh Heupel’s offense did its usual work for the Vols, too, putting up the 49 points on 499 yards — 212 passing, 287 rushing — while at one point scoring six touchdowns over a span of seven possessions.

Joe Milton III completed 21 of 30 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns and ran nine times for 33 yards and two more scores on the ground. The Vols ran for 287 yards and five touchdowns on 52 attempts as a team. 

Elijah Herring led Tennessee with five tackles, Tyler Baron had a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss and Baron and James Pearce Jr. had two sacks each.

Here’s what the Virginia coaches and players said about the Vols after the loss:

Head Coach Tony Elliott

Tennessee’s physicality in the game and what he was expecting from the Vols

“We knew the game was going to come down to the trenches on both sides. It was going to come down to the strength and then also the depth in the trenches. I thought that we probably could’ve done a better job of trying to establish the run a little bit earlier. We were trying to be aggressive and take advantage of some of the short fields, but they did a great job. They had depth, too. They were rolling a lot of guys in there and you didn’t see much of a drop off. Some of it was what they were doing, also some of it was us as well. Just not necessarily working in unison how we had been doing in the run or the pass game. Then, one-on-one matchups, at the end of the day they run their one-on-one matchups which resulted in our quarterback getting hit. We’ll evaluate it and see where the fundamental breakdown was. Sometimes, you’re just going to lose a one-on-one matchup. Sometimes a guy just flat out beats you. I can’t say that was the totality of it until I watch the film, but it was the difference in the game. The flipside, on their offense versus our defensive line, where they just covered us up too much and we gave up too much in the run game. I thought our guys fought hard, but we weren’t able to stop the run like we used to. From that standpoint, they can drive the pace of the game and set the mindset for the game if you’re able to establish the run. There’s nothing more frustrating for a team than when the opposing team is just able to run the football.”

Tennessee’s success on punt returns in the second half

“I’m not going to take anything away from (Dee) Williams. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He had done it last year, but what I think when you boom it out there, guys have to get down the field. I thought we had some opportunities to make some open-field tackles, and we didn’t. We missed a couple of tackles there, and once you miss the first or second tackle, he’s punctured your coverage team. It’s very hard after that. The key is to put it up there high, somebody get down in his face and force a fair catch. We did that at times, but the other times we were down there and didn’t make the play. Once he makes that first guy miss, it’s hard. We’re going to go back and look at it. I thought our protection was a lot better than last year. Last year, our protection of (Daniel) Sparks was not good. We improved there. There are some incremental improvements, but coverage-wise we have to do a better job. On the last one, we had a guy down there in position, and he just didn’t come into position, wrap him up and get him on the ground.”

Offensive Coordinator Des Kitchings

If he gives consideration to who the opponent was when he evaluates the offensive line’s performance

“It’s probably a little bit of a combination. I do believe in our guys that we have. That was good speed to go against in the first game. It gives good tape to evaluate. We look at technique, fundamentals and if we put them in the right spots for success. It’s good to evaluate moving forward.”

Defensive Coordinator John Rudzinski

Seeing his Virginia defense go up against one of the best offenses in the country

“Our young men did a great job as far as preparing. For the first 25 minutes, we competed really hard. We’re going to have to do a better job in that middle eight as far as that two-minute situation and then to start the half, but there’s a lot of opportunity for growth and I’m excited to see these guys continue to grow throughout the season.”

Virginia Defensive Lineman Kam Butler

How good Tennessee is

“They’re good. What they do, they do it at a high level. Obviously with the tempo, they do that at a high level. Everybody’s big. We just didn’t execute.”

Virginia Offensive Lineman Brian Stevens

Takeaways from facing Tennessee

“With them being a prestigious opponent, that’s something you have to take away. Watch the tape. You find the good things, find the bad things and you learn from it. If you can compete with the best, then you can do it.”