Austin Peay Game Preview
The game against Virginia went about like I expected. I only missed the score prediction by a Tennessee field goal. The first half struggles are pretty common for offenses in Week 1. Plus Tennessee kept it vanilla and didn't run a lot of different plays. I thought the running game was impressive. The strength of Virginia if they had one was their defensive line. I know they were missing their best player on that unit but they still got pushed around pretty good by Tennessee's offensive line. I expected Tennessee's running backs to play a bigger role this year and it looks like they are well on their way with probably the best stable of running backs in the SEC. And there's not really any drop off from one to the other. Dylan Sampson flashed with 3 rushing TDs and another through the air. Jaylin Wright ran for 115 and Jabari Small added some nice runs of his own. The passing game looked a little out of sync at times, especially through the lull but Milton still had 200 yards passing. He missed on a few deep shots but he did hit on one in the middle of the field. I was impressed with Milton's decision making. For the most part he made the right reads and went through his progressions like you would expect from a guy in his third year in the system. It was good to see Castles get a few catches to give us a preview of his abilities.
The injury to Keenan Pili is unfortunate. As it has been noted, Tennessee is pretty thin at that position. Elijah Herring is more than capable of stepping into that role but if he goes down it gets dicey behind him. The defense was my biggest takeaway from that game. Virginia doesn't have any playmakers and the secondary wasn't really tested but the front seven looks as strong as it's been since the Fulmer era. The speed was unmistakable and I didn't see a lot of missed tackles. The pass rush looks to be formidable and the Vols will need it in some of the bigger games this year. Tennessee was consistently getting pressure with just 4 pass rushers. If you can do that, it makes things so much easier for the rest of the defense. The secondary probably won't get tested until South Carolina. Florida can possibly test them if they can protect Mertz. UTSA has a great QB but if his offensive line couldn't protect him against Houston, I can only imagine what Tennessee's defensive line is going to do to them.
Dee Williams was great returning aside from the fumble. We didn't get to see a field goal so that's still an unknown. There were several balls kicked out of bounds on kickoffs. They need to fix that quickly. You can't keep giving teams free yards to start their drives. The punting was atrocious. Jackson Ross averaged only 36 yards per punt. I would definitely expect more from an Australian punter. He did show some ability though. His long was 50 yards.
As for Saturday's game, Tennessee is playing Austin Peay. The Governors are an FCS team that was a respectable 7-4 last year. They played Alabama on the SEC's joke schedule week the 2nd to last game of the year and lost 34-0. They were hammered by Southern Illinois last week 49-23. Let's just call this game what it is. A scrimmage that counts on the win/loss record. Tennessee has played an FCS team every year since 2010 with the exception of the Covid year in 2020. These team have struggled to break 10 points against the Vols for the most part despite how bad Tennessee was for most of that time. In 12 games, FCS teams have managed only 83 total points against the Vols for an average of 6.9 points per game. FCS teams were shut out in 5 of those games, including Austin Peay in 2013. The most points Tennessee has ever given up to an FCS team was 24 points last year to UT Martin. Tennessee was also down about 4 or 5 starters in that game and most of the players that started that game didn't play in the 2nd half.
Josh Heupel will work on some things. He will get some younger players some playing time. He will try to get the players who will be playing for injured starters next week some game experience. I don't expect most of the starters to be playing much in the 2nd half. This will be a stress free game as we get to enjoy or loathe the fauxback Smokey Greys, depending on your feeling toward them. Hopefully everyone stays healthy for the game in the Swamp a week from Saturday, when the season really begins.
Tennessee 70
Austin Peay 0
In other games...
Nebraska (+2.5) 42
Colorado 38
Ole Miss 40
Tulane (+7.5) 37
Miami (+4.5) 30
Texas A&M 27
Notre Dame (-7.5) 34
North Carolina State 24
Alabama (-7) 38
Texas 20
Last Week... 3-3 (3-3 ATS)
That's all I have for this week. As always, I appreciate everyone who took the time to read this.
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We're already on Week 2. Cherish every moment of football. It'll be over before you know it. Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe. Go Vols and God Bless!