The Day After: Tennessee routs UTEP 56-0

Tennessee closed out the regular season home schedule with a 56-0 win over UTEP and while that was happening , the Vols got some help in the college football playoff rankings. We review Tennessee’s regular season home finale with The Day After.

Hot and Not

HOT

2nd quarter plus Nico Iamaleava — It was a horrible start for the redshirt freshman who started 2-for-6 for 14 yards. Iamaleava finished 15-of-17 for 195 yards and four touchdowns. When Iamaleava got going Tennessee’s offense looked the way it’s supposed to look.

The kicking game — We all feel like Boo Carter should have been returning punts earlier, but at least he’s returning them now. Carter continues to make a huge impact in the return game. Carter has set the Vols up for points on short fields in each other of the last three games. And give Jackson Ross plenty of credit as well. Ross had six punts, averaging 46.8 yards a punt and three of them were downed inside the 20 yard line, two inside the 10. Ross and Tennessee’s defense are winning field position. Tennessee started offensive drives on UTEP’s side of the field three times after a Miner’s punt.

Tennessee’s secondary — The athleticism of Tennessee’s secondary, especially at cornerback and nickel showed up Saturday. Jermod McCoy had an interception and a PBU. He plays so clean with little to no grabbing and tugging even if he is a bit out of position. Rickey Gibson had a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a PBU. Gibson has continued to improve and McCoy is as good of a shut down corner as the Vols have had. Then you had Boo Carter, who led the team with six tackles including a tackle for loss. Carter’s speed showed up big time in UTEP’s underneath passing attack. 

The red zone — Tennessee has not been a very good team in the red zone this season. Saturday against an inferior opponent, Tennessee was perfect going 8-for-8 with 8 touchdowns. 

NOT

First quarter offense — Starting with Iamaleava it was a brutal start to the the day. Tennessee was aggressive and clearly trying to attack vertically early. The first play from scrimmage should have been a score, but it was a horribly thrown ball. Tennessee’s first three offensive possessions consisted of two three-and-outs and a total of 11 plays for 22 yards.  

Defensive line penalties — Tennessee officially has an issue with defensive line penalties. The Vols had four more off-side penalties on Saturday after having three at Georgia and three the week before against Mississippi State. UTEP got Caleb Herring on a hard count three times.  

Pass protection — Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has now been sacked 27 times on the season. He was sacked three times against UTEP as the Miners got Tennessee on a couple of defensive back blitzes and one of the sacks was on Iamaleava for not throwing the ball away on the final drive of the first half. 

Defining moments

Sampson’s 13 yard reception on the Vols first scoring drive — Tennessee was facing 3rd and 8 and Iamaleava had been in no kind of rhythm, but he found Dylan Sampson on an arrow route out of the backfield for a first down. Tennessee would scored six plays later, Iamaleava found his groove and the rout was underway.  

Boo Carter punt return #1 and number #2 — Carter’s first punt return set the Vols up at the UTEP 19 and the Vols scored two plays later. The second one set Tennessee up at the three yard line following a penalty and the Vols scored one play later. Carter work in the punt return game in the last three weeks has gifted the offense with points.

Jaxon Dart’s interception that gave Ole Miss their 3rd loss — I never thought I would see Tennessee fans inside of Neyland Stadium doing the Gator chomp but when word spread that Dart had thrown his final interception to seal Ole Miss’ third loss that’s exactly what happened. Tennessee needed playoff help Saturday and they got it. 

Final run through the T — Let’s get a little sentimental here as 25 Vols ran through the T for a final time in Neyland Stadium. This group of seniors has been key in helping change the course of Tennessee football. As Josh Heupel said post game, they believed in him, his staff and the plan and the result is two wins over Alabama, two over Florida, bowl wins and now a final regular season game in Nashville with a college football playoff berth on the line. 

Inside the numbers

88% — Iamaleava’s completion percentage to finish the game. After an ugly 2-of-6 start, Iamaleava went 15 for 17 for 193 yards and 4 touchdowns.

7 — Number of three and outs by Tim Banks’ defense as the Vols pitched their second shutout of the season. 

2,503 — Tennessee’s rushing total for the season. Under Heupel the Vols have rushed for 2,500+ yards in four straight season. The first time that’s happened in school history. 

3 — Number of touchdown catches by Bru McCoy and Squirrel White on Saturday. Coming into the game the duo had one on the year and that was from White against Mississippi State. 

Gameball

Let’s go with Boo Carter. Carter gifted the Tennessee offense with 14 points on two punt returns and he led the team in tackles as the secondary and linebackers played UTEP’s underneath shallow passing game much better than a year ago when Scotty Walden brought his offense to Knoxville with Austin-Peay. Tennessee’s corners played well and Carter played with a fast trigger at the nickel spot finshing with six tackles, including a tackle for loss.

Biggest question/concern moving forward

Can Tennessee handle the moment? The Vols got the biggest help they needed on Saturday with Ole Miss losing to Florida. Now it’s all in front of Josh Heupel’s team. You couldn’t ask for anything else as a competitor than to go into the last weekend of the regular season with what looks like a trip to the college football playoff on the line as you control your own destiny. 

Can this team handle it? In 2022, against Georgia, who was a great team, the moment was too big. Two weeks later the Vols ended any outside hopes they had with a beat down at the hands of South Carolina. 

In 2016, the Vols were headed to Atlanta but couldn’t handle business as they blew a game on the road at South Carolina. Then blew hopes of going to the Sugar Bowl by getting beat at Vanderbilt. 

Tennessee couldn’t ask for more than they got on Saturday and now the question is can they take advantage of it against the best Vanderbilt team they will have played in the Heupel era?