Following an embarrassing loss to West Virginia last Saturday, Tennessee looks to bounce back with a convincing win over its neighbor in its home-opener.
The Buccaneers of East Tennessee State travel down to Knoxville following a 28-7 win over Mars Hill in its season-opener. In former Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders’ debut as head coach, the Bucs overcame three turnovers to score 28 unanswered points and pick up win No. 1 on the season and in Sanders’ head coaching career.
Offensively, ETSU was led by junior quarterback Logan Marchi, a Temple transfer. Marchi threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-29 passing. Quan Harrison was Marchi’s favorite target on the afternoon, hauling in five passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Kobe Kelly, a senior receiver from Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville, and senior tight end Evan Wick, each caught a touchdown.
On the ground, redshirt freshman running back Quay Holmes rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Holmes averaged 6.9 yards per rush while freshman Jacob Saylors tacked on nine carries for 70 yards. ETSU finished with 238 rushing yards on the afternoon, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.
The Bucs finished the game with 511 total yards of offense. Despite finding success through the air and on the ground, ETSU’s offensive line still allowed three, sacks and the Mars Hill defense recovered three fumbles.
Defensively for ETSU, the Bucs allowed just 263 yards of offense and forced two turnovers. The Bucs only gave up 14 rushing yards on 34 carries, good for just a 0.4 yard per carry average. Their defense was consistently in the backfield, tallying 11.5 tackles for a loss and four sacks. Senior linebacker Dylan Weigel and junior defensive back Jeremy Lewis each had 10 tackles apiece to lead the defense. Redshirt junior Nasir Player finished the afternoon with 1.5 sacks and two tackles for a loss.
East Tennessee State (1-0) impressed in Sanders’ debut despite a slow start, but man-for-man, Tennessee (0-1) should dominate on Saturday. The Vols have more talent at every position, and despite the lackluster performance against West Virginia, the talent discrepancy should translate to a big win on Saturday for UT. These are the games that teams use to work on difference aspects, whether it be by experimenting with new personnel or trying new schemes.
These are the four things we need to see out of the Vols on Saturday.
