Gameday on Rocky Top

The Vols did what they had to do this weekend against an outmanned ETSU Buccaneers team, and you have to give them credit for taking care of business. To be sure, there are still several obvious issues and many unanswered questions, but much of the new data this week was positive and increased hope for the future to a degree.

Meanwhile, former Vols opponent West Virginia blew out Youngstown State, which is also a positive. It’s not much more so than what they were expected to do, though, so while it’s a net positive, it’s not much of one.

As far as future opponents go, UTEP confirmed its tune-up status, and Florida’s loss to Kentucky made it look vulnerable to decent competition. The Gamecocks proved that they’re not yet an elite SEC team, yet we still don’t know how much of a gap there is between them and the rest of the SEC East. The Kentucky Wildcats must be taken seriously, and everybody else pretty much did what you expected of them.

On balance, it wouldn’t be accurate to call it a rosy picture for the Vols moving forward into the 2018 season, but it is indeed better than it seemed to be after Week 1.

And with that, my new expected win total after Week 2 is 5.45. Use the form below to calculate yours and post it in the comments below the post.

Explanations are below, but here’s the updated table of my expectations for the season:

Tennessee Volunteers currently

• Lost to #17 WVU*, 40-14
• Beat ETSU, 59-3
• UTEP, 12:00 PM ET
• Florida, TBD
• #3 Georgia, TBD
• #7 Auburn, TBD
• #1 Alabama, TBD
• S Carolina, TBD
• Charlotte, TBD
• Kentucky, TBD
• Missouri, TBD
• Vanderbilt, TBD

The Vols’ past opponents

West Virginia Mountaineers

Current record: 2-0 (0-0), 1st in Big 12

• Beat Tennessee*, 40-14
• Beat YSU, 52-17
• NC State, 3:30 PM ET
• Kansas St, TBD
• Texas Tech, TBD
• Kansas, TBD
• Iowa State, TBD
• Baylor, 7:00 PM ET FOX Sports 1
• Texas, TBD
• #15 TCU, TBD
• #24 Oklahoma St, TBD
• #5 Oklahoma, 8:00 PM ET

East Tennessee State Buccaneers

Current record: 1-1 (0-0), 3rd in Southern

• Beat Mars Hill, 28-7
• Lost to Tennessee, 59-3
• VMI, 1:30 PM ET ESPN+
• Furman, 7:30 PM ET
• Chattanooga, 7:30 PM ET ESPN+
• Gardner-Webb, 3:30 PM ET ESPN+
• The Citadel, 2:00 PM ET
• Wofford, 1:30 PM ET ESPN+
• W Carolina, 3:30 PM ET ESPN+
• Mercer, 3:00 PM ET ESPN+
• Samford, 1:00 PM ET

UTEP Miners

Current record: 0-2 (0-0), 1st in C-USA – West

• Lost to N Arizona, 30-10
• Lost to UNLV, 52-24
• Tennessee, 12:00 PM ET
• New Mexico St, 7:30 PM ET
• UTSA, 7:00 PM ET ESPN+
• North Texas, 7:30 PM ET
• LA Tech, 3:30 PM ET ESPN+
• UAB, 7:30 PM ET ESPN+
• Rice, 3:30 PM ET
• Mid Tennessee, 3:00 PM ET ESPN+
• W Kentucky, 7:30 PM ET
• Southern Miss, 3:00 PM ET ESPN+

Florida Gators

Current record: 1-1 (0-1), 3rd in SEC – East

• Beat Charleston So, 53-6
• Lost to Kentucky, 27-16
• Colorado St, 4:00 PM ET
• Tennessee, TBD
• #16 Miss St, TBD
• #12 LSU, TBD
• Vanderbilt, TBD
• #3 Georgia*, 3:30 PM ET CBS
• Missouri, TBD
• S Carolina, TBD
• Idaho, TBD
• Florida State, TBD

Georgia Bulldogs

Current record: 2-0 (1-0), 1st in SEC – East

• Beat Austin Peay, 45-0
• Beat #24 S Carolina, 41-17
• Mid Tennessee, 7:15 PM ET
• Missouri, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• Vanderbilt, TBD
• #12 LSU, TBD
• Florida*, 3:30 PM ET CBS
• Kentucky, TBD
• #7 Auburn, TBD
• UMass, TBD
• Georgia Tech, TBD

Auburn Tigers

Current record: 2-0 (0-0), 1st in SEC – West

• Beat #6 Washington*, 21-16
• Beat Alabama St, 63-9
• #12 LSU, 3:30 PM ET CBS
• Arkansas, TBD
• Southern Miss, TBD
• #16 Miss St, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• Ole Miss, TBD
• Texas A&M, TBD
• #3 Georgia, TBD
• Liberty, TBD
• #1 Alabama, TBD

Big game coming up for Auburn this week as they take on #12 LSU. We’ll know a lot more about them after that.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Current record: 2-0 (0-0), 1st in SEC – West

• Beat Louisville*, 51-14
• Beat Arkansas St, 57-7
• Ole Miss, 7:00 PM ET
• Texas A&M, TBD
• Louisiana, TBD
• Arkansas, TBD
• Missouri, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• #12 LSU, TBD
• #16 Miss St, TBD
• The Citadel, TBD
• #7 Auburn, TBD

South Carolina Gamecocks

Current record: 1-1 (0-1), 3rd in SEC – East

• Beat C. Carolina, 49-15
• Lost to #3 Georgia, 41-17
• Marshall, 7:30 PM ET
• Vanderbilt, TBD
• Kentucky, TBD
• Missouri, TBD
• Texas A&M, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• Ole Miss, TBD
• Florida, TBD
• Chattanooga, TBD
• #2 Clemson, TBD

Charlotte 49ers

Current record: 1-1 (0-0), 2nd in C-USA – East

• Beat Fordham, 34-10
• Lost to App St, 45-9
• Old Dominion, 6:00 PM ET
• UMass, 3:30 PM ET
• UAB, TBD
• W Kentucky, 3:30 PM ET ESPN+
• Mid Tennessee, 3:00 PM ET
• Southern Miss, 2:00 PM ET
• Tennessee, TBD
• Marshall, 2:30 PM ET ESPN+
• FIU, 2:00 PM ET
• FAU, 6:00 PM ET

Kentucky Wildcats

Current record: 2-0 (1-0), 1st in SEC – East

• Beat Cent Michigan, 35-20
• Beat #25 Florida, 27-16
• Murray State, 12:00 PM ET
• #16 Miss St, TBD
• S Carolina, TBD
• Texas A&M, TBD
• Vanderbilt, TBD
• Missouri, TBD
• #3 Georgia, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• Mid Tennessee, TBD
• Louisville, TBD

Missouri Tigers

Current record: 2-0 (0-0), 3rd in SEC – East

• Beat UT Martin, 51-14
• Beat Wyoming, 40-13
• Purdue, 7:30 PM ET BTN
• #3 Georgia, TBD
• S Carolina, TBD
• #1 Alabama, TBD
• Memphis, TBD
• Kentucky, TBD
• Florida, TBD
• Vanderbilt, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD
• Arkansas, 2:30 PM ET CBS

Vanderbilt Commodores

Current record: 2-0 (0-0), 3rd in SEC – East

• Beat Mid Tennessee, 35-7
• Beat Nevada, 41-10
• #8 Notre Dame, 2:30 PM ET NBC
• S Carolina, TBD
• Tennessee St, TBD
• #3 Georgia, TBD
• Florida, TBD
• Kentucky, TBD
• Arkansas, TBD
• Missouri, TBD
• Ole Miss, TBD
• Tennessee, TBD

Editor’s note:  With my esteemed colleagues taking care of the heavy postgame lifting as I’m handling my national college football obligations on Saturday, I wanted to do something a little different. Each Sunday from now through the end of the year, we’ll take a last look at the game before, pointing out some positives as we move through the various phases of the Jeremy Pruitt rebuild.

We’ll call it Sunday Best. Hope you guys enjoy…

***

A lot of times throughout life, we’re not put in ideal situations. But you try to get through them, put your trust in the right place and endure. The fervent hope is that you’ll get stronger because of the trials and, some day, you’ll be rewarded for the work you did in the face of them.

If you’re a believer, this should sound familiar.

If you’re a Tennessee fan, you should try to look at the 2018 season in the same frame of mind.

Those playing and coaching and cheering on the Vols through what looks like yet another rebuilding campaign don’t want to be here. Don’t you think all those kids in orange and white wish they were dominant and winning games week-in and week-out? Don’t you know somebody used to championships like Pruitt has a hard time accepting that this year’s roster is nothing like the ones he coached at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State? And, of course, we all want to recapture the glory days.

Those ain’t coming in ’18.

But, you know what? That’s OK. We all need to hope that we’re building something that will last, finding playmakers, improving from week to week and that somewhere, along the way, we’ll be stronger for it. For the Vols, hopefully that will materialize not only in the growth of the players and the growing number of dependable guys on the roster, but also in the win column.

We talked about finding out where we were starting from last week after the 40-14 loss to West Virginia, even if that starting point wasn’t where we wanted. Will talked about gaining another data point yesterday after the 59-3 shellacking of ETSU.

I want to talk about the steady improvement we want to see and what we saw. Yes, we could harp all day on the struggles of the offensive line and how a pass-rush [or lack of one] against SEC opponents will get you crushed. Both of those things are true, but if we choose to talk about those, we forget the positives, and this year should be about enjoying wins when they come and accentuating the positives when they do, too.

There won’t be as many of both as we’d like, but we need to open our eyes and actually acknowledge them when they come.

I know the level of opponent downgraded significantly from West Virginia to ETSU, but I tried to view Saturday through the lens of “just us.” Just look at Tennessee and look for improvement, look for growth, look for development. I saw plenty. If the Vols progressively improve each week throughout the year as much as they did from Week 1 to Week 2, we’ll be happy with the end-of-the-season final product, even if we’re not happy with the final record.

The defense played faster, more aggressive and corralled several game-changing plays such as Darrin Kirkland’s pick-six and Bryce Thompson’s athletic defensive presence. Offensively, the O-line was a disaster, yes, but if you weren’t encouraged by several individual performances, you’re too hard to please.

We saw exactly what we needed to see from a game against the FCS Buccaneers. There was no way we could cure all ills yesterday, and we didn’t, but we saw that it perhaps won’t be as bad as we thought. Let’s take a look at some of Sunday’s Best:

• Thompson followed fellow freshman Alontae Taylor’s Week 1 performance by having his own show-up-and-show-out spot against ETSU. The freshman cornerback finished with four tackles, including two for a loss, an interception and a pass breakup. He was all over the field and displayed speed and athleticism that UT lacks on the back end. The only bad thing was he started in Taylor’s place; not Baylen Buchanan’s. Once Thompson and Taylor can be trusted to be on the field at the same time, the Vols will realize their most athletic defensive backfield.
• Junior college defensive lineman Emmit Gooden led the team with eight tackles and a sack. The late addition to Pruitt’s class has two years to play in Knoxville and is already better than any other defensive lineman. He’s an encouraging building block for the remainder of this season and for the future.
• If you aren’t excited about the wide receiving corps and the emerging weapons, you’re too hard to please. Marquez Callaway is off to a red-hot start, and he looks like one of the league’s top receivers. Toss in the emergence of Jordan Murphy and Josh Palmer, and the Vols have some weapons on the perimeter. Murphy’s camp is paying off with some big plays in the season, and Palmer looks more confident and a step faster than he did at any point last season. Most importantly, he’s catching the football.
• Tim Jordan is a good, solid back, and we haven’t even seen Ty Chandler truly unleashed yet. But Jeremy Banks is a load to bring down, and he’s exactly the kind of running back the Vols have been missing since Montario Hardesty. He is a violent runner who hits the hole with authority and finishes runs. It’s not a stretch to say UT’s most assertive running back is its youngest, and Pruitt already praises his leadership ability. He could be a special piece to this puzzle. Banks already may be my favorite player on this team.
• Theo Jackson and Shawn Shamburger weren’t always in the right places Saturday, but they too [like Thompson and Taylor] upgrade the athleticism in the secondary, so this was a step toward them proving their value to the coaches. The simple fact is the Vols need better athletes in the secondary than Buchanan and Micah Abernathy. It’s up to those guys to step up.
• Finally, there are reasons to remain encouraged about Jarrett Guarantano and to feel good about Keller Chryst, too. With the O-line issues, both likely will be relied on throughout the year. Neither is dynamic and both have limitations, but they don’t look like the kind of signal-callers who’ll get you beat. We’ll see in two weeks against Florida.

Next week, Tennessee gets another patsy in UTEP. Boy, the Miners are awful, so we won’t know a whole lot about the development of the team then, either. But what we can see is blossoming confidence, important reps and opportunities to improve.

Somebody said to me yesterday in the midst of that ugly start: “Man, this offensive line and pass rush won’t cut it. If this was an SEC team, we’d be getting killed.”

To which I replied, “Good thing it isn’t. One of those doesn’t come for another couple of weeks. We’ve got more time to marinate.”

By the time the hated [and also flawed] Florida Gators come to town, who knows what kind of team we’ll be?

If things go the way they have so far, we’ll be better than we were this week.

When Derek Dooley was taking his first steps as Tennessee’s coach, the Vols faced an elite Oregon team in week two. Tennessee led 13-3 early and was still alive midway through the third quarter, down 20-13 but driving into Duck territory. Then Matt Simms was pick-sixed, and the floodgates opened: 21 additional fourth quarter points from Oregon turned a competitive game at halftime into a 35-point blowout.

Dooley noted Tennessee’s inability to handle adversity in the postgame: “I was real disappointed from then on (the pick six) with how we competed. You would have thought we were down 40 (instead of 14).” This became a recurring theme with Dooley’s teams: the head coach would (correctly) point out that they didn’t handle adversity well, while never making successful adjustments to help them do just that. The Vols folded against Florida two years later in much the same fashion, and Dooley was on the way out.

In his second full week on the job, Jeremy Pruitt noted Tennessee’s struggles when faced with adversity against West Virginia, specifically when getting denied thrice at the goal line in the second quarter as the offense was coming off the field on 4th-and-1 almost as a reflex. Even without being overly critical of the previous administration, it’s fair to say the Vols need to build confidence after a 4-8 season and a steep fall from the Top 10 in mid-October the year before. We all wanted to believe the new staff could make some of that happen right away; I’d imagine the players hoped for the same thing. Pruitt has the rings as a coordinator to sell that argument.

When it didn’t happen, and the Vols lost by 26 to West Virginia instead, players and fans alike had to reset their baseline. It was just one data point – and hey, maybe West Virginia will turn out to have as much in common with 2010 Oregon as possible – but it was the first impression, and it didn’t inspire as much confidence as we were wishing for.

Today was the second data point. And while you won’t be talking about what the Vols did against ETSU when the season is over, today was important in beginning to rebuild that confidence. How did the Vols do?

Defensively, very well. ETSU gained only 194 yards on 58 snaps (3.34 yards per play) and were just 2-of-15 on third down. The Vols grabbed a pair of interceptions, a particularly welcome sight for freshman Bryce Thompson after facing West Virginia the week before. Tennessee still struggled to get pressure on the quarterback, but gave hope that what we saw last week had plenty to do with the opponent. As I write, Will Grier is 20-of-25 for 292 yards and three touchdowns against Youngstown State.

Jarrett Guarantano was sharp again: 8-of-13 for 154 yards, hitting a couple of deep balls to Josh Palmer and Marquez Callaway. The latter followed up his 6-for-63 performance from last week with 5-for-78. Last year only two Vol receivers (Callaway and Brandon Johnson) finished the year with more than 200 yards; Callaway is off to another strong start and is fast establishing himself as Tennessee’s top target.

The running backs all had individual moments that popped. But the Vols weren’t as effective as you’d like against FCS competition: Tim Jordan (15-for-65) and Jeremy Banks (13-for-62) were okay, but the run blocking didn’t inspire the confidence we’re looking for.

The good news: UTEP is next, 0-12 last year and a 30-10 victim to FCS Northern Arizona last week. There’s more confidence to be built and more fine-tuning the Vols will need to face the Gators.

One early difference between Pruitt and Dooley (and Butch): the new guy admitted his own mistakes from last week, noting poor clock management at the end of the second quarter gave West Virginia a shot at three more points. Confidence is only, always earned. The new coach is doing it one play at a time too.

 

The Tennessee Volunteers finally found their stride after a second consecutive game delayed by lightning and rolled to a 59-3 rout of the ETSU Buccaneers Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.

The game got off to an ominous start for the offense, not unlike the way the team started against West Virginia last week. Against an outmanned Bucs team, the offense was held to a field goal on its first possession and then had to punt on its next two.

On the other side of the ball, though, the defense looked stout right out of the gate, giving up only 28 yards on four possessions before Vols defensive back Marquill Osborne blocked a punt, picked it up, and returned it for a touchdown.

When the game was paused for lightning with Tennessee up 10-0 early in the second quarter, it looked like the Vols would probably beat ETSU but come away not feeling much better about its offense.

But a different team returned to the field 45 minutes later and scored 28 points from the 9:27 mark of the second quarter to the 3:00 mark. More than the points, it looked like the team actually earned them.

The first drive after the unanticipated break was sparked by a 51-yard pass to Marquez Callaway and capped by hard-charging freshman running back Jeremy Banks. When the Vols’ Bryce Thompson intercepted ETSU on its first play of the next drive and returned it to the 3-yard line, Jeremy Pruitt called on Banks again, and he delivered in one try for a 24-0 Vols lead.

The Bucs offense managed two plays on its next possession before the quarterback threw another interception, this one to Vols linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. Kirkland returned it for a touchdown and a 31-0 lead.

Keller Chryst came in at quarterback for Tennessee at that point, and the points kept coming. Before it was all said and done, Osborne, Banks, Kirkland, Josh Palmer, Jordan Murphy, and Madre London all had Tennessee touchdowns.

Jarrett Guarantano was 8-13 for 154 yards, and Keller Chryst was 3-3 for 70 yards and a touchdown.

The three main running backs all had solid days. Tim Jordan led the way with 65 yards on 15 carries, but Banks had 13 carries for 62 yards and two touchdowns, and London had 8 carries for 47 yards and two touchdowns.

Three Vols receivers had over 50 yards. Marquez Callaway had 78, Murphy 75, and Josh Palmer 51.

The beginning of the game made you feel like it was going to be an extremely long season. If the offense couldn’t move the ball against ETSU, what in the world was it going to do against the SEC slate? But after the break, the team found its groove, and although it was an expected result against an over-matched opponent, Tennessee didn’t look much different than Florida did against Charleston Southern last weekend.

Tennessee gets another tuneup against UTEP next week before the all-important showdown with Florida on September 22.

Go Vols.

It’s Gameday on Rocky Top, with the Tennessee Vols hosting the ETSU Bucs at Neyland Stadium this afternoon at 4:00.

Here’s the Gameday Gameplan for Vols fans. Where and when to find the Vols game on TV, what other games to watch, and what to listen to and read as you wait for kickoff.

When is the Vols game, and what TV channel is it on?

Here are the particulars for today’s Tennessee game:

• Kickoff: 4:00
• TV: SEC Network
• Official video streaming: ESPN
• Official audio streaming: Vol Network
• Live stats

The best other games for Vols fans to watch today

Here’s our list of games to watch today, curated just for Vols fans:

 

See also, this week’s full college football TV schedule.

GRT games and contests

While you’re waiting for the games to begin, make sure that you submit your answers to the GRT Guessing Game questions and update your picks for the GRT Pick ‘Em.

GRT game-week podcasts

And if you’re driving around this morning to get stuff done before kickoff, have a listen to this week’s podcastby subscribing via iTunes or Google:

 

 

Pre-game prep

And to catch up on on your pre-game reading, have a look at our game preview posts from earlier this week:

1. Locks & Keys Week 2: The Bucs Stop Here
2. Tennessee loses starting center Brandon Kennedy to season-ending knee injury
3. Worth watching 9.4.18: Pruitt’s weekly press conference
4. Updated projected win totals for the Vols after Week 10
5. A Last Look at West Virginia Before Looking Ahead
6. Competence vs Excellence

This will also serve as our game thread for the day. Hope to see you there.

Go Vols!