Secondary play was atrocious

Anthony Richardson is banged up, and he’s been inaccurate all year. However, he torched the Vols in this one, completing 24-of-45 passes for 453 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Napier kept the Vols on their heels by using Richardson’s legs more than the past two games, as he ran it 17 times for 62 yards and another two touchdowns.

This was a disastrous performance, and it almost resulted in the Vols blowing a 38-21 fourth quarter lead as Florida scored twice and recovered an onside kick. They made one stand at the end, but it never should have come down to that.

Hendon Hooker’s Heisman campaign with Tennessee football is off and running.

The public got a taste of that campaign in Tennessee football’s win at the Pittsburgh Panthers. However, in this game, Hendon Hooker stepped up beyond what we expected. Without his go-to receiver, he exploded.

Hooker was 22-of-28 for 349 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and he ran for another 112 yards and a touchdown. That was all without his go-to receiver in Cedric Tillman as well.

At the end of the first half, Hooker showed his clutch gene. Banged up and trailing 14-10, he directed UT on a 99-yard touchdown drive to score going into halftime. The Vols never looked back.

Bru McCoy had his breakout game.

Despite no Cedric Tillman, plenty of other Vols stepped up in the passing game, including Ramel Keyton, who had a diving catch, Jalin Hyatt, both tight ends and even Jabari Small. However, Bru McCoy was the star.

Without Tillman, McCoy had five catches for 102 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the first half, so he was the star. He had a TD grab at Pitt and against Florida, so he is starting to step up in big moments.

Help from Billy Napier won this credit.

You have to give Billy Napier credit for his aggression. Florida was 5-of-6 on fourth downs, and going 7-of-15 on third downs helped. However, he also made some situational mistakes with his aggression.

Napier went for two twice down 38-21 late. It was already three scores, and after Florida recovered that onside kick, it kept them from being able to try a game-tying field goal. That wasn’t Napier’s only mistake either.

Late in the first half, up 14-10 Billy Napier made the questionable call that was the turning point. After torching the Vols on situational plays, Napier called a trick play at midfield. It was confusing and didn’t work.

Florida punted, and that’s when the Vols went on their touchdown drive to end the half. If Napier doesn’t make that call, you wonder what might have happened.

Offense was clean after first drive

Sure, there were two turnovers and a penalty. One of Tennessee football’s turnovers was on the first drive of the game. The other was on a fourth down stop.

In addition to that, the Vols only committed two penalties after their first offensive drive. One was a hold on Gerald Mincey, and the other was a formational penalty when the Vols had the ball up two scores.

Playing that clean was a huge deal in helping the Vols win this game. Last year, they had double-digit penalties against the Gators. They had it last week too. Only six penalties for 50 yards in this one was a big improvement.