Tennessee Football: Recapping the win over UTSA
The Tennessee Volunteers got back in the win column on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the UTSA Roadrunners 45-14. Although not pretty at times (especially the gross 3rd quarter) the Vols took care of business coming off a disappointing loss to Florida the week prior. The Vols did a lot of good things Saturday afternoon, but they are still miles away from playing their best game. Let’s take a look at two surprises, two negatives, and two positives from the Vol’s victory over the mighty Roadrunners.
Two Surprises
Normally Josh Heupel and staff find 4 receivers they trust and ride them for most of the game. However, there were two new faces that got some snaps for the Vols at wide receiver. Kaleb Webb reeled in 2 of his 5 targets from Joe Milton for 22 yards and a touchdown, and Chas Nimrod was able to get open downfield nearing halftime before being overthrown by Joe Milton. Now you may think it’s not that surprising for depth players to get some snaps against an overmatched opponent, but Josh Heupel and staff called these players numbers in the first half. Is Josh Heupel trying to find a spark in the downfield passing game? Is he not satisfied with what his core receivers have been producing thus far? This will be something to monitor moving forward.
The Vol offense for the third game in a row ran fewer plays than their opponent. The Vols ran 85 plays in the season opener against Virginia, but since then the most plays they’ve run in a game is 66. Josh Heupel knows that the more plays his offense runs the better chance they have to win, and not being able to run more plays than UTSA is a major red flag. Getting off the field on 3rd down on defense, and avoiding 3 and outs are both crucial for Josh Heupel’s offense. The Vols need to be better in both areas to get back to running more plays than their opponent.
Two Negatives
Joe Milton continues to be inconsistent at Quarterback. Joe Milton started his day with a bang when he finally showed that he could make a play in the run game as he took the opening play from scrimmage 81 yards for a touchdown. However, Milton continues to struggle with passing the ball downfield. Late in the first half, Milton was slow to get up after being taken down awkwardly for a sack on 3rd and goal. After that scare, Milton went into a funk as he missed throw after throw in the third quarter. This included overthrows, underthrows, late throws, and even a dropped pick-six by a UTSA defender. Even if Joe did miss these throws because he might have been banged up, why would he get the benefit of the doubt? Milton has shown nothing at Tennessee which leads me to believe he missed all those throws simply because he was hurt. Milton was able to hand the ball off enough to muster two 4th quarter scoring drives that iced the game away, but he needs to improve drastically if the Vols want to win more than 7 games. Milton started the game 14-16 passing and ended his day at 18-31 passing. Milton just isn’t consistent enough right now and that’s the bottom line. Anyone blaming the offensive line or the offensive coordinator needs to get a grip. The offensive line without Cooper Mays has performed fine in pass protection as they’ve only given up 5 sacks on the year. Josh Heupel and Joey Halzle have drawn up wide-open receivers all year and Joe is just missing them. The quick stops and wide receiver screens seem to be the only throws that Joe can make consistently right now, and at some point, the lack of a consistent downfield passing game might force the hand of Josh Heupel to give Nico a chance.
The Vols continue to be an undisciplined team. The Vols were able to block a punt in the first quarter, but then Cam Seldon inexplicably tried to dive on it resulting in a muffed punt that UTSA was able to recover. The ball had gone 20 yards and the Vols were ready to be set up with prime field position, but then Cam Seldon lost his mind. The Vols also got another personal foul penalty after stopping the Roadrunners on a fake punt. UTSA was not able to take advantage of either of these miscues, but a higher caliber opponent will no doubt make the Vols pay when the lack of discipline rears its ugly head.
Two Positives
The running game imposed their will on the overmatched UTSA front all game long. The Vols racked up 303 yards rushing and the star of the show was Dylan Sampson. Sampson rushed 11 times for 139 yards getting two touchdowns along the way. After not getting a single snap against Florida, which is nothing short of coaching malpractice, he was able to show out on Saturday against the Roadrunners. Joe Milton flashed his ability to be a threat in the run game as well. If Joe Milton can keep defenses honest with the threat of him keeping the ball on the read option things could become a lot easier for this offense. If Joe Milton isn’t able to stretch the field with consistency in the passing game, why not see if he can hurt the opponent in the run game with more designed QB runs? It’s something the Vols should look into as they enter the bulk of their SEC schedule.
It would’ve been easy for resentment and anger to spread across the team after the Vol’s disappointing performance against the Gators. However, the Vols were able to avoid that and get a culture-defining win for the program on Saturday night. Josh Heupel should be proud of his team for performing well against UTSA as they have been a terrific team in their conference for the last few years. The Vols clearly were able to rebound and put in a good week of practice because UTSA was certainly capable of giving the Vols a scare if they weren’t prepared to play. The Vols will need another solid week of practice if they want to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks next Saturday night and avenge the loss that kept them out of the CFP last year.
Featured image via @AstroSmokeyX