Coaching
Offensive play-calling: A
Josh Heupel and Joey Halzle did their part. Tennessee Football had 478 yards. The Vols suffered a fumble and missed three field goals in Kentucky territory. Plus, Nico Iamaleava had three touchdown passes that were dropped, one by Miles Kitselman, another by Chris Brazzell II and another by Chas Nimrod. Simply put, the play-calling was enough to generate over 50 points.
Defensive play-calling: B-
Tim Banks has been superb all year but didn’t have his best performance in this one. He may not have had a lot of help with his defensive line and linebackers being off, but Kentucky caught him on some of his dialed up blitzes, particularly in their first touchdown of the game, and they moved the ball too much given how awful their offense is. Still, Banks got it together, so his play-calling remains above average.
Overall coaching: B+
You can criticize Josh Heupel’s talent evaluation and personnel decisions leading up to the game, but he still did what he need to do to win Tennessee Football the game. Going under center once again on the goal line speaks volumes to the program he has developed, and he once again kept his team poised despite its struggles. As a result, he gets an above average grade.
