Bituli totals 23 tackles for Vols
ATLANTA — As news broke last week that the Tennessee football team had lost star linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. for the season, the question became who would step in as a defensive playmaker.
Sophomore Daniel Bituli answered that question emphatically Monday night with 23 total tackles, the most by a Volunteers defender since Keith DeLong had 22 in a 1988 loss to Alabama.
Although he played in the TSSAA’s smallest classification, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Bituli stood out in his first career college start, with a team-high 11 solo stops and a forced fumble. In high school he was the state’s Class 1A Mr. Football lineman of the year and helped lead Nashville Christian to a state title.
Monday night he was part of a very active Vols linebacker corps that included Baylor School graduate Colton Jumper with 18 tackles and fellow senior Cortez McDowell with 13 tackles, including seven solos. The three ranked 1-2-3 on the team in tackles.
Kelly extends record
When John Kelly dived across the goal line midway through the second quarter, it added to the program record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown. The Vols have now had at least one rushing TD in 29 straight games, dating back to a 29-21 loss to Missouri on Nov. 22, 2014. Kelly added three scoring runs late in the game and the Vols’ current streak is the second-longest active, behind Alabama’s 35.
Tennessee had rushing TDs in 24 straight games from 1937 to 1939, a mark that stood for 77 years.
Openers streak nine
Monday’s win extended Tennessee’s streak of consecutive season-opening
wins to nine. The Vols had outscored the previous eight season-opening opponents by an average of 32.3 points before escaping the Yellow Jackets in double overtime.
Butch Jones now has coached UT to opening wins over Austin Peay, Utah State, Bowling Green, Appalachian State and Georgia Tech. Last year’s defeat of App State was in overtime.
The Yellow Jackets had won five of their previous six games against SEC opponents, including three straight last season. However, Tennessee has now won seven straight games played at neutral sites.
Tech gashes Vols
Georgia Tech ranked seventh in the nation last year with 38 runs of 20 yards or more, including 16 plays of 50-plus yards. The Jackets had five plays of 20-plus yards against the Vols
defense Monday. Meanwhile the Vols tied for 110th — out of 128 teams — by allowing 27 rushes of 20 or more yards last year.
The Jackets ran the ball 86 times for 535 yards. Quarterback TaQuon Marshall carried 44 times for 249 yards and a school-record five touchdowns. KirVonte Benson added 124 yards and the other TD.
Vols fare well vs. ACC
Monday night’s game marked the third time since 2012 the Vols faced an ACC opponent in a neutral-site game. UT opened the 2012 season with a 35-21 win over North Carolina State in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game, beat Virginia Tech 45-24 in last year’s Battle at Bristol and then held off Georgia Tech in two overtimes.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@ timesfreepress.com.