By JASON MARTIN (@JMartZone – November 10, 2018)
Eventually it had to happen.
Eventually, the stars would align in Knoxville and the Tennessee Volunteers would play good football in front of the home crowd.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and following a soul-crushing beating at home against Georgia last week, Kentucky was perfect to come into Neyland Stadium hungover and punch drunk from seeing any hopes of an SEC East crown dashed by a far better team.
Tennessee has more talent than the W-L record would indicate, but after a mere 14-3 win over Charlotte seven days ago, Jeremy Pruitt’s team needed a pick-me up to send them in the right direction and possible bowl berth with a strong finish against three straight SEC East opponents.
Saturday was the realization of the eventuality. The Vols played by far the best game of their season and obliterated a Kentucky team that we suspected might have been a bit overrated, considering their inability to pass the football at even a sub-par clip. It’s a flaw that would eventually be their downfall, and the Wildcats right now just look broken after a wonderful first 2/3 of the regular season.
Here are my Big 6 Belated Takeaways from Tennessee’s 24-7 win over Kentucky, a game I attended…and also managed not to freeze to death in the process, despite a bad outerwear choice.
But I digress…
THE SHOT
You always take that shot at the end of the half. With a two possession lead at the end of the half, Tennessee didn’t elect to just kneel and take it to intermission. Instead, a few plays that got them in the vicinity, and then let’s go let the receivers make a play. Jarrett Guarantano heaved one for the end zone, Hail Mary was in the building, and Marquez Callaway was hanging in the checkerboards watching the pigskin sail his way.
And then he leapt up and caught it. It was 17-0, and for all intents and purposes, the football game ended right there.
This was aggressive, but not stupid, and was what everyone in that frigid stadium wanted to see. It was a good throw and a tremendous catch, as it had to be, but there wasn’t much risk as a Guarantano interception means nothing outside of a stat line. At 17-0, which capped off arguably the best half Tennessee has played in the last two seasons, it was over. Kentucky wasn’t coming back. We’ve seen that offense.
SAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK
You have to feel bad for sophomore QB Terry Wilson, who did all he could, but was still terrorized with five sacks and any number of hurries and pressures. He finished with a decent rating, but a terrible adjusted QBR, and he just never had a chance. Tennessee was relentless as the Vols challenged him repeatedly and sent orange jerseys at him all night long.
One of those orange-clad warriors, not Nigel, but a junior from Waverly, Virginia by the name of Darrell Taylor, was in the backfield more than Kentucky tailback Benny Snell. At least, that’s what it felt like. Not one, not two, not three (LeBron flashbacks happening), but FOUR sacks for Taylor, who was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
Wilson simply can’t throw, and although he only threw the one interception, Kentucky’s offense could not move down the field after the Vols grabbed the lead, but surprisingly, the Wildcats had more snaps than Tennessee in the game, mainly because JG and the offense either had short fields or hit explosive plays that took away chunks of yardage in short order.
It wasn’t dominant from a time of possession standpoint at all, but Tennessee controlled every facet of the game.
SNELL WAS SNUFFED OUT
Benny Snell just couldn’t get it going against the Vols on Saturday, at least not to the extent he expects to on a weekly basis. 20 carries for 81 yards and no touchdowns is a WIN for Tennessee against a guy that absolutely will get a major opportunity on Sundays in the future. Kentucky’s lack of protection and matador offensive line performance made it difficult, and even on the edges, the Volunteers were solid against the run.
This was the opposite of what we saw in Columbia against South Carolina, which is where fans would expect to see a strong effort against the run. Kentucky has run it well all year and Snell is a stud, but on Saturday, Jeremy Pruitt and his players weren’t having it.
35 total carries for 77 yards factoring in the negative yardage. That’s going to win a lot of football games folks, especially against teams with next to nothing going in the passing phase.
THE OL SHOWED UP
They’re not particularly talented, but on Saturday, after giving up an early sack and looking a little shaky, the much maligned Tennessee offensive line stood up to the test of a highly regarded Kentucky defense, gave JG a chance, and enabled a Vols run game that very few saw coming against the blue and white.
In stark contrast to UK’s ground futility, UT went OFF in front of the loud, boisterous home crowd. 40 carries, 215 yards, and a touchdown. Ty Chandler had an excellent day, as did Tim Jordan, who made it into the endzone on one of his 15 scampers. It was a team effort, with even Jordan Murphy getting into the act with a 59 yard tote on a misdirection play.
Tennessee has to be able to run it to enable some of the downfield opportunities, and on this day, everything clicked. The resulting gel culminated in a 24-7 dismantling of a pretty good, but now top-20 level Kentucky team that was largely exposed on the road after being exposed at home seven days ago.
MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME? FOOTBALL COACH.
I already have infinitely more confidence in Jeremy Pruitt and what he’s doing than I ever did at any point with Butch Jones. It sounds easy to say such a thing after another win, but it sounds easy because it is easy, because it’s undoubtedly true. I’ve spoken to numerous former players that candidly, to a man, have said Butch didn’t appear to know football at all when they visited, attended practice, or watched the team play on Saturdays.
Pruitt is aggressive, he’s fiery, he’s one-note, he bottom lines each performance in a refreshing way, but he comes across like a football coach. I hate that descriptor, but I’m using it here because it’s apropos to the situation at hand. Tennessee is on the rise. How far the rise goes is anybody’s guess, but I’ve seen things that lead me to confidence in what’s to come for this football team.
The coach is trusting his young men to WIN, not protecting them from losing. That’s an enormous difference. And it’s leading to increasing success, even with many holes to fill and a huge task in front of them in terms of longterm progress.
THE MIGHTY ARE CONSIDERING PICKING THEMSELVES BACK UP?
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I watched as the fans cheered the team following the Kentucky win and the jubilation that surrounded me at Neyland Stadium, and past all the statistics or data I could throw at you right now, I was struck by another emotion.
Relief.
How far did Tennessee fall and how badly have these last several hires been that it felt APPROPRIATE for Vol Nation to celebrate that vociferously after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats in college football? It’s unbelievable if you stop to think about it for more than a second. I don’t jeer at any Tennessee fan for doing it, which proves the answer to the above questions is some variation of “a crap ton” and “unconscionably awful.”
This is Kentucky. It’s not Alabama. Yet, it felt right to erupt and dance and party the night away for everyone wearing orange. Incidentally, I was in green. But I watched from a safe distance. A rebuild and a flip of a losing culture is going to take time, but things appear to be ahead of schedule, at least you can make that case.
THE LAST WORD
Missouri at home and Vanderbilt on the road are all that’s left on the schedule for Tennessee. The Vols have to win at least one of them to be bowl eligible, and I wrote and said prior to the Alabama game that once the Crimson Tide exited Knoxville, every remaining matchup on the schedule was winnable…but all of them were also losable.
South Carolina should have been a win, but it wasn’t, because of self-inflicted mistakes and terrible run defense. Charlotte wasn’t impressive but it was still a W, and Kentucky was very impressive. Now here comes Drew Lock and a high octane Missouri offense, but Tennessee can absolutely beat them. Vanderbilt is Vanderbilt. At this point, the Volunteers should win that game.
Considering the Kennedy and Smith losses, not to mention Kongbo and other key contributors that have missed time this season, Jeremy Pruitt has done a great job in his first season. However, if the Vols now go 0-2 in these last two, it’s going to leave a sour taste in Knoxville, even with some hope alongside the disappointment.
Two big games against SEC East opponents and now, you can win the first and should win the second. The question is will you? Vols fans are salivating for the sweetness. Can the fighting Pruitts leave the WarHeads at home and deliver that pumpkin and pecan pie a little before Thanksgiving? We shall see.
