Tennessee football opened its season with a commanding 49-13 victory over Virginia in Nashville Saturday. While the score was lopsided, Tennessee led by just a touchdown with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Here are five critical moments in Tennessee’s win over the Cavaliers.
Milton Finds Sampson For A Fourth Down Conversion And Score
I talked and wrote all offseason about how I didn’t need to see spectacular from Joe Milton III. We’ve seen Milton make spectacular throws that make your jaw drop. Growth for Milton was doing the operational things and making the easy throws consistently.
We saw him do it in a big moment on the first drive of the season. Josh Heupel left his offense on the field on fourth-and-five at the Virginia nine yard line.
Milton read his progressions, found Dylan Sampson in the flat and stuck a throw right on the money and Sampson beat the Virginia defense to the corner for the touchdown.
On its surface it was an easy throw, but Milton didn’t panic when his top options weren’t open and put the touch throw to the flat right on the money. If the throw was behind Sampson he may not have won the race to the corner.
But Milton’s throw was right on target and Tennessee took a lead it never relinquished.
Will Bettridge Misses From 28-Yards
Heupel remained aggressive on Tennessee’s second drive, going for it on fourth-and-one at Tennessee’s 29-yard line. This time the aggression backfired as Virginia blew up the inside run and turned the Vols over on downs.
It was an instant change for Tennessee’s defense who allowed a third down conversion before bowing up and forcing a field goal in the red zone.
Virginia kicker missed wide right from 28 yards and any chance of Virginia pulling the upset was all but over. Four touchdown underdogs have to get points when drives start on the opponent’s 29-yard line. But Tennessee’s defense played well and Bettridge missed a kick he’s like to have back.
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Ramel Keyton’s Drop
After Tennessee’s first drive, its offense went into a stagnant five possession stretch where they failed to score and failed to open up the game and effectively put Virginia away.
In two of those possessions they should have scored if it weren’t for little mistakes. The Vols’ third drive looked like a quick strike touchdown when Milton dropped a deep ball right in Ramel Keyton’s basket.
Keyton was multiple steps behind the Virginia secondary and would have strolled in for a touchdown. But the senior receiver dropped the deep ball and Tennessee went three-and-out.
A touchdown on that drive does a couple things for Tennessee. It would have helped get the offense into a rhythm and would have given the receivers some confidence. Heupel noted postgame that Tennessee’s receivers struggled to get in a rhythm in the first half.
Lastly, an 80 yard touchdown would have made Milton’s stat line look much better. Milton’s 2023 debut felt solid but nothing special. If Keyton hauls in that pass we’re likely talking about it more fondly today.
Milton’s Worst Sequence
We just touched on what would have been an 80-yard Milton touchdown if Keyton didn’t drop a good pass. But Tennessee also had a scoring drive squandered because of a Milton mistake.
The Vols had second-and-two at Virginia’s 32-yard line late in the first quarter. Tennessee was driving and right on the fringe of field goal range.
Milton misfired on second down and snapped the ball before a Tennessee receiver was set on third down as the Vols’ tried to go fast. Backed up to third-and-seven and Virginia sacked Milton, pushing Tennessee out of field goal range.
In the first section I talked about Milton being consistently good operationally. This was his worst operational mistake and worst sequence of the game. What should have been, at the very worst, fourth-and-short for Tennessee’s offense turned into a 12-yard loss that pushed the Vols out of field goal range.
Both of the missed scoring opportunities for Tennessee in the first quarter changed the feel and pace of the game.
Early Second Half Dagger
Tennessee tacked on two touchdowns late in the first half and had a comfortable 21-3 lead at halftime.
But it was an early second half sequence where Tennessee put Virginia away and really made it apparent that they would cover the massive point spread.
The Vols scored on their first drive of the second half to extend their lead before immediately forcing Virginia into a fourth-and-one in their own territory. Tony Elliott rolled the dice this time and ran a read option. Wesley Walker sniffed it out and tackled Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett for a loss.
Tennessee ran the ball six straight plays and the drive ended in the end zone as the Vols opened up a massive 35-3 lead that proved to be the dagger.
