4. Tennessee throttles Utah State to open the season
The Aggies, led by potential Heisman dark horse quarterback Chuckie Keeton, were a chic upset pick in the first week of the college football season. Tennessee wasn’t going to let that happen. The Vols jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back, limiting Keeton all night and pulling off an impressive 38-7 victory on the national stage in a Sunday night game. Justin Worley spread the ball around to 11 different receivers for 273 yards and three touchdowns. A.J. Johnson was everywhere on defense – intercepting a pass and recording nine tackles on the evening. Nobody confused Utah State for an SEC opponent, but this was an early sign of some of the promising aspects of the 2014 team.
