The Tennessee Volunteers got off the SEC schnide Saturday with a 27-21 overtime victory over in-state “rival” Vanderbilt. It was full of good, bad and ugly things.
The Good
Tennessee ran the ball with effectiveness! It was amazing, and the first time all year this has happened. (Frankly I didn’t think we’d see this until 2012). Tauren Poole had 19 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown. That’s a solid 5.6 yards per carry. Rajion Neal also had 6 carries for 29 yards at a respectable 4.8 yards per carry. A shout out also goes to Dallas Thomas, Marcus Jackson, Alex Bullard, Zach Fulton, and Juwuan James for finally allowing Poole and Neal to spring free.
Tyler Bray’s presence. The Vols played with a rediscovered swagger with Bray in the huddle. He wasn’t his best, but he was the spark UT needed.
Da’Rick Rogers. Rogers was nothing short of awesome. 10 catches for 116 yards and 2 scores. Both touchdowns were amazing catches, and Rogers showed why he was a five star recruit. Rogers has 65 catches, 1,002 yards, and nine touchdowns on the season. He’s four receptions ahead of Jarius Wright of Arkansas for the SEC lead, dead even with him in yardage, and one back in touchdowns. If those aren’t all SEC numbers then I don’t know what are.
Creating turnovers. It wasn’t that long ago that UT was near the bottom of the country in turnovers created. The Vols had four last night. Malik Jackson caused a fumble on Vanderbilt’s opening drive. Austin Johnson had his 4th pick of the year. Prentiss Waggner had a game saving pick on the final drive of regulation, and Eric Gordon, well we know what Eric Gordon did.
Responding to adversity. Maybe all that Orange Dog talk was what the Vols needed, but for the first time in a while, UT came back. It was great to see.
The Bad
Tyler Bray’s decision making. Bray was rusty throwing, but he was rustier in his decision making. The second pick that went 97 yards the other way, was an awful decision. Bray stared down Mike Rivera the entire time, and still tried to throw a fastball by Archie Barnes. It didn’t work.
The kicking game was terrible. Matt Darr didn’t look good, neither did Mike Palardy.
The secondary didn’t look good. Brian Randolph went down early, and Prentiss Waggner went down late. On the final play, the five defensive backs were Izauea Lanier, Byron Moore, Gordon, Rod Wilks and Marsalis Teague. I am sure that’s not what Derek Dooley or Justin Wilcox envisioned in July. The secondary gave up some big plays all night. UT has a lot of work to do back there.
The Ugly
James Franklin, this guy is unbearable. He is a whiner, I can’t stand watching that guy on the sidelines. He’s as bad as Stever Spurrier and Will Muschamp.
That odd camera angle that ESPNU employed. I don’t know if a camera was broken, but that was hard to watch.
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