Volquest mini-pod: Tennessee takes care of Oklahoma
It wasn’t a typical Tennessee victory like fans have become accustomed to in the Josh Heupel era. The Vols 25-15 victory over Oklahoma in the Sooners’ SEC debut came as a result of a smothering defensive effort, not the offensive explosion we’re used to seeing.
Heupel won his ‘revenge’ game over his alma mater, the program he led to a national title as a player and where he was unceremoniously fired by Bob Stoops following the 2014 season.
In his first trip back to Norman on the opposing sideline Heupel unleashed a defense that hadn’t surrendered a touchdown since last November.
Oklahoma did manage to find the end zone tonight, twice in fact, but both touchdowns came in the fourth quarter when the Vols had the game in hand.
It was a solid outing for Nico Iamaleava in his first road start. He completed 13-of-21 passes for 194 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
His lone touchdown was a 66-yard scoring strike to Donte’ Thornton late in the first quarter. Thornton would haul in a 50-yard bomb to set up a field goal in the second half
Iamaleava did have two fumbles in the game, the Vols’ only turnovers of the night, but the Tennessee defense had his back.
After both of Iamaleava’s fumbles the Tennessee defense immediately forced turnovers of their own to keep the Sooners off the scoreboard.
The Tennessee defense even managed to get points on the board themselves, recording a second quarter safety to put the Vols up 12-3 after Jackson Ross had pinned Oklahoma inside its own five yard line.
Tennessee’s defense ended the night with 11 tackles for loss and three quarterback sacks.
The Vols held Oklahoma to a 3-of-15 performance on third down.
Starter Jackson Arnold was so ineffective in the first half (7-for-16, 54 yards, three turnovers) that he was benched before halftime. One of those turnovers was the first interception of Jermod McCoy’s young Tennessee career.
Freshman back-up Michael Hawkins gave the Sooners a bit of a spark, but it wasn’t nearly enough on this night.
Heupel called a conservative game once it was apparent that the Vols’ defensive front was controlling everything.
Tennessee ran the ball 52 times for 151 yards in the contest.
Dylan Sampson had 94 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. DeSean Bishop added 65 yards on 16 carries.
Tennessee will be off this week before returning to action on October 5 with a road trip to face Arkansas, who won at Auburn on Saturday.
