Tennessee’s defense dialed up the pressure against Pittsburgh. No one in orange was surprised that the results came in droves.
The Vols registered four sacks and countless quarterback pressures against Pitt in a 34-27 overtime victory on Saturday in Acrisure Stadium. Tennessee defensive lineman/linebacker Byron Young wasn’t surprised one bit.
“We already knew coming into the game that he was going to hold onto the ball extra long. so we already told ourselves that every rush we’ve got to keep going, even if we feel we might not be there, we’ve got to keep rushing,” Young said. “We already knew that.”
It was good to be prepared. Young was referring to Pitt quarterback Kedon Slovis and his penchant for holding onto the football a bit too long. That didn’t go well. Slovis was knocked out of the game and replaced by Nick Patti. That didn’t go much better. Patti was often seen limping in between plays as he was forced to endure the Vols’ relentless pass rush.
“They put the backup quarterback in so we just went harder,” Young said. “We knew he was the backup so (we) had to put pressure on him a little bit harder to make him nervous.”
Nervous or not, Patti couldn’t lead Pitt to an upset victory over the Vols despite managing to get the game into overtime. The extra period of football was partly due to Trevon Flowers’ fumbled punt return in the fourth quarter. Then, Flowers essentially ended the game with a sack on third down in overtime which forced Pitt to unsuccessfully try to convert a fourth-and-goal from the 20-yard line.
“That just shows the type of guy he is,” Young said. “When that happened with the fumble, I told him just to lock in and we’re good. I told him we were right behind him and it doesn’t matter.
“Either way, win, lose or draw, I’m always going to be behind him so when that happened, at that moment I told him ‘Bro, lock in, make a play’ and that’s what happened.”
Flowers had an eventful game, to say the least. In addition to the fumbled punt return and the key sack, Flowers intercepted a pass in the first quarter to halt a deep drive by Pitt and was hurdled in the second quarter, which resulted in a 57-yard touchdown. It was a frenetic day for the Vols. With a sub-par day by Tennessee’s offense, it was up to the Vols’ defense to secure a victory.
“The defense played their tails off today as they do everyday,” quarterback Hendon Hooker said. “They bring that enthusiasm and energy day in and day out in practice and push us to get better and we push them to get better.”
Flowers certainly feels better after that overtime sack.
