It went from a scare early to a thrilling afternoon, made better for the Vols by the fact that the Ole Miss Rebels and Indiana Hoosiers lost. As a result, UT, which beat the UTEP Miners SCORE, now controls its own destiny to reach the College Football Playoff. Here are five things we learned from the dominating victory by Josh Heupel’s team.
Slow start was almost forgotten
UTEP coach Scotty Walden was with the Austin Peay Governors when the Vols struggled against him last year, and he pulled out his same bag of tricks early against the Vols with his disguised 3-3-5 and trick plays on offense. Also, the Florida Gators were playing Ole Miss and the Ohio State Buckeyes were playing Indiana at the same time.
The distractions combined with Walden’s style resulted in a scoreless first quarter for the Vols, and they were forced to punt on their first three possessions. However, after that, Tennessee regrouped and managed to score 28 points in the second quarter, reaching the end zone on seven of its next nine possessions.
Senior send-off
For certain seniors, this last home game was a bit more special. Bru McCoy helped revitalize the Vols, and after a disappointing year at wide receiver, Nico Iamaleava was able to find him for two touchdowns in this game, his first two of the season. Omari Thomas, meanwhile, had a tackle for a loss.
On the offensive line, Cooper Mays and Javontez Spraggins paved the way for over 200 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Dylan Sampson, Peyton Lewis, Cam Seldon and Iamaleava did that as a collective. These four seniors have been anchors for the program, and Mays, Sampson and Spraggins were even before Josh Heupel, so this was a big finish.
Passing game FINALLY looked elite
Despite starting 2-of-6 on the day, Iamaleava finally got the offense to look like a Josh Heupel offense. He threw a career-high four touchdown passes and completed 17 of 23 for 209 yards and no interceptions. McCoy stepped up, but Squirrel White also finally caught a touchdown, and the tight ends were big once again, as Ethan Davis had a score.
Big plays on defense
This unit never had a bad quarter. It started with Jermod McCoy intercepting a pass on UTEP’s second drive. As the Vols began their onslaught, though, they kept pouring it on. James Pearce Jr. had a sack on a fourth down, Rickey Gibson III forced a fumble that Dominic Bailey recovered, and UT later had another fourth down stop. John Slaughter also had a pick.
Punt game helped Vols keep the short field
Boo Carter continued to build on the way he teased fans last week with one big punt return against the Georgia Bulldogs. He had three returns for 61 yards. One went for 18 and the other for 38 to set up two touchdowns. Meanwhile, UTEP had a 17-yard punt to give Vols a short field, and Jackson Ross consistently flipped field position with elite punting.
