Orange lightning
Weather delay sparks eruption by Vols against ETSU
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee struggled after a weather delay in a season-opening loss to West Virginia last week.
This time around, a little lightning provided a jolt for the Volunteers.
Tennessee scored three touchdowns in less than two minutes following a 48-minute weather delay in the second quarter of a 59-3 rout of East Tennessee State University on Saturday in front of 96,464 fans at Neyland Stadium.
“I think probably last week was a good lesson for the players,” Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said.
The win was Pruitt’s first as a college head coach, and it came with relative ease as the Vols held their in-state foe to 194 total yards, even after turning to reserves on defense in the second half.
Pruitt wore a solemn expression on his first Vol Walk before the game and projected an equally stoic demeanor in the aftermath.
“Well, to me, it’s an opportunity to learn,” he said. “We’re still making a ton of mistakes.”
Tennessee will have another chance to work out the kinks against Texas-El Paso this Saturday before welcoming Florida to Neyland Stadium on Sept. 22 for a key Southeastern Conference
showdown.
The Vols will hope to greet the Gators with the same intensity they displayed coming out of Saturday’s weather delay.
Before the delay, Tennessee led just 10-0 — thanks largely to a Marquill Osborne blocked punt that he returned for a touchdown — and had run for minus-1 yard on eight carries.
Freshman running back Jeremy Banks rammed through the middle of the defense for a 15-yard pickup on the first play after the delay. Starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano then passed to Marquez Callaway for a 51-yard gain to set up the Vols’ first offensive score of the day.
From there, the defense took over. After giving up more than 400 passing yards and intercepting no passes in last week’s 40-14 loss to West Virginia, the Vols intercepted two passes from ETSU quarterback Logan Marchi in a span of four Bucs offensive plays in the second quarter.
Freshman Bryce Thompson took the first interception to the ETSU 3-yard line to set up a Banks touchdown. Just a few plays later, redshirt junior linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. snagged a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage by Kyle Phillips and scampered 33 yards for his first college touchdown to make the score 31-0.
West Virginia outscored the Volunteers 20-7 in the quarter following the previous week’s rain delay. This time, the Vols outscored ETSU 28-0 in what remained of the second quarter once play resumed.
“I don’t think that we done a whole lot differently for the coaching staff,” Pruitt said of the way the Vols spent this week’s down time. “We got our plan together, we presented it to the players. I think our strength staff, our support staff tried to create a little more juice when we come out on the field. Last week when we got out there, for whatever reason, my fault, we didn’t see a whole lot of that.”
Callaway, who finished with a team-high five receptions for 78 yards, said, “We just can’t get away from the weather.
“I know we were kind of getting a little stiff, and right before we got to that ultimate point, all the strength coaches ran in there yelling at us, telling us to get up and move around. Then we went out there and we had a full, dynamic stretch after we had a full stretch in the locker room.”
Tennessee’s offensive line played without center Brandon Kennedy, who was lost for the season with an ACL injury suffered in practice on Tuesday. Ryan Johnson slid from right guard to center and struggled initially before the running game found its footing.
Banks and graduate transfer Madre London scored two running touchdowns each while splitting carries with sophomore Tim Jordan. Sophomore running back Ty Chandler could have played, Pruitt said, but the staff elected not to play him in such a lopsided affair after he was limited in practice leading up to the game because of a head injury suffered last week.
In total, the Vols ran 30 times for 138 yards behind the revamped offensive line. “They adjusted well,” London said. “Sorry to hear about Brandon Kennedy. We don’t ever want to wish an injury on anybody. It’s the next man up. That’s why we came to Tennessee, to compete, and that’s what Coach Pruitt hangs his hat on. Person out, the next person steps up. I felt good about the O-line.”
Freshman lineman Jerome Carvin started at the open right guard slot. The Vols worked Chance Hall (right guard) and Marcus Tatum (right tackle) into their line rotation as they tried to find an early rhythm.
ETSU’s defensive front offered stiff resistance early as the Vols struggled to move the football.
A 51-yard completion from Guarantano to Josh Palmer down the right sideline on the Vols’ first series gave them a first-and-goal. From there, they went backward, leading to a 26-yard Brent Cimaglia field goal that opened the scoring.
Tennessee picked up just one first down on its next two possessions before the lightning delay that changed the game.
“That obviously changed the game huge at that point,” ETSU coach Randy Sanders said after his first game as a head coach at Neyland Stadium following more than 20 years as a Tennessee player and coach. “I’m proud of our guys. They just kept fighting. I always tell them to just play the next play and play like it’s zero to zero. I thought our guys kept competing and kept fighting.”