Tennessee 24, UTEP 0: Vols not bad, but sloppy against the Miners

A sleepy 24-0 Tennessee win over the UTEP Miners capped off a sleepy week for Vols fans this afternoon in Neyland Stadium. The UT offense sputtered early again this week, managing a paltry 17 yards on its first possession against a Miners team that was among the worst in the FCS last season.

Tennessee’s next possession began better but ended badly, as a 60-yard drive that culminated in a touchdown was undone by a chop block, sending Tennessee back out of the red zone and into settle-for-a-field-goal range.

Then, their third possession went for 64 yards but ended with a goal-line fumble. The call was somewhat controversial, as there were questions whether running back Jeremy Banks was down and/or whether he crossed the goal line before he lost the ball, but upon review, the on-field call was upheld.

Tennessee led only 3-0 after the first quarter. They scored a touchdown on their next possession to go up 10-0, but then punted out the remainder of the first half.

Despite the gloomy feel of the first half, though, the non-turnover and non-penalty stats were mostly sunny:

Stat comparison at the half: pic.twitter.com/IdQyiPEh6U

— Orange & White Report (@OandWReport) September 15, 2018

As Will pointed out during the game, the team was more sloppy than bad:

UT offense yards per play last year: Indiana State 5.9, UMass 4.5, Southern Miss 3.6. Today so far: 9.4. Sloppiness and bad offense aren’t the same thing.

— Will Shelton (@wshelton2) September 15, 2018

Running back Ty Chandler, who didn’t play last week against ETSU, had the highlight of the day on the first play of the second half:

That made the score 17-0, Vols, but the offense again stalled out on its next two possessions. A touchdown pass from Jarrett Guarantano to Jauan Jennings a few minutes into the fourth quarter capped the scoring for the game.

Defense

As a shutout would suggest, the Tennessee defense did a pretty good job all game, holding the Miners to a total of 134 yards, 95 on the ground and 39 through the air. UTEP managed only seven first downs and were 2-14 on third down conversions.

In comparison, the Vols’ offense, as disappointing as 24 points may have been, had 512 total yards, 345 rushing and 167 passing. They had 24 first downs and were 4-12 on third down and 1-1 on fourth.

Players

Guarantano had a solid day, as he was 12-16 for 168 yards and a touchdown and looked mostly in control the entire game. He threw no interceptions for the third week in a row.

The running backs were led by Chandler’s 158. Madre London added 74, Tim Jordan 49, and Jeremy Banks 45. Guarantano had 20.

Six different players caught balls for the Vols. Josh Palmer had 64 yards on two catches with a long of 53, and Brandon Johnson had four catches for 51 yards. It was great to see Jennings get more involved this week with three catches for 22 yards and a touchdown, and Dominick Wood-Anderson was targeted multiple times and caught two balls for 21 yards. Marquez Callaway seemed to be much more involved than his stat line is willing to admit: It says he had only one catch for 8 yards. Perhaps it’s all of his punt returns that made him seem more involved.

Only 24-0?

It’s hard to be disappointed in a defense that allows no points, no matter the team. The offense scoring only 24 points, though, is a cause for concern, but in my view there are three main reasons the Vols didn’t score more points, and they’re not quite as concerning as they might seem, as they are easily-correctable and/or uncharacteristic of the team so far this season.

Penalties

The Vols committed eight penalties for 65 yards, the majority of which were on the offense. The first — a chop block — negated a touchdown. Half of the drives that resulted in punts were stalled out by penalties. The offense moved when not behind the chains due to stupid penalties.

Turnovers

As mentioned earlier, Tennessee’s third offensive possession was rolling right along until freshman running back Jeremy Banks lost the football as he was stretching for the goal line. It may or may not have been the right call, but in any event, it ended an almost certain opportunity for another 7 points.

The score could have been worse due to turnovers, as punt returner Marquez Callaway also muffed a punt and gave the ball to the Miners’ offense at the 33-yard line. Fortunately, their own penalties and the Vols’ defense pushed them back and forced a punt.

Splitting time among the quarterbacks

As I said before, Guarantano was 12-16 (75%) for 168 yards. Despite him doing well and the team not clicking or pulling away from the Miners, the coaching staff decided to give backup quarterback Keller Chryst playing time at key junctures of the game.

That didn’t work so well.

With the Vols only up 10-0 and getting the ball back with 1:40 to play in the first half, Chryst’s first opportunity netted 6 yards in four plays and a punt.

Chandler limited the Vols’ first possession after the break to a single-play drive resulting in a touchdown, and Guarantano put together an eight-play, 38-yard drive after that, although that one ended up in a punt as well.

Chryst got the next possession, with 5:43 left in the third quarter and the Vols leading 17-0, and the team promptly went three plays for 1 yard before punting.

Guarantano got the next one and went 71 yards in 11 plays, throwing the touchdown pass to Jennings to finish it off.

Chryst’s next possession was his best. With 8:23 left in the game, he led the team on a six-play, 37-yard drive. But the only pass went for a loss of 1 yard, and the drive still ended with a punt.

The rest was garbage time with nothing but run plays and a kneel down.

I suppose it’s a good idea to get the backup quarterback ready to play, just in case. Somehow, though, it seems like a better idea when the team is already firing on all cylinders with the first-string guy, and although Guarantano was doing his part, the team wasn’t exactly rolling even with him at the helm. Continuity seems like a better goal than experience for the backups at this point.

Maybe we’ll be glad sometime in the future that Chryst has had some live fire, but it’s become quite clear that Guarantano is the team’s No. 1 quarterback, and although the team moved the ball well this afternoon, I don’t know that it really made Vols fans feel any better in advance of next week’s big showdown with the Gators.