Tennessee’s offense has won the Vols a lot of games during the Josh Heupel era. But for the first— or maybe second— time of Heupel’s two-plus year tenure, the Vols’ defense propelled Tennessee to a 20-13 victory over Texas A&M.
Josh Heupel admitted that it was an unusual game for him to coach but noted that it was weirdly fitting for the Vols’ defense to backpack their offense on the day Tennessee honored legendary safety Eric Berry ahead of his College Football Hall of Fame induction.
“Fitting on a day that Eric (Berry) is recognized for going into the Hall of Fame that we have the type of defensive performance that we did, honoring one of the best that’s ever come through here and really one of the best that’s ever played the game,” Heupel said postgame.
Texas A&M scored a touchdown on a seven-play, 80-yard drive in its first possession against Tennessee. They wouldn’t score another touchdown and totaled just 197 yards on 54 plays the rest of the game for an average of 3.6 yards per play.
Like it did against South Carolina, Tennessee’s defensive line absolutely dominated the Aggies. Texas A&M ran for just 54 yards on 28 attempts (1.9 YPC). The Vols totaled just two sacks but that was an incomplete picture of just how effective Tennessee’s pass rush was.
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Texas A&M had an intentional grounding, a holding call that saved a sack and Tennessee had an abundance of pressures including on a Gabe Jeudy-Lally fourth quarter interception.
“Love the resiliency of our football team defensively,” Heupel said. “The line of scrimmage was relentless. We dominated it. Just an unbelievable performance by them. But we did a great job on the second and third levels as well. Did a good job in the run game.”
James Pearce Jr. continued his breakout sophomore season out of nowhere and Tyler Baron continues to play the best football of his Tennessee career.
While Tennessee’s defensive line was most dominant, the Vols’ secondary turned in another strong performance in an ode to Berry. No Tennessee safety recorded an interception but Jeudy-Lally and Kamal Hadden each recorded crucial fourth quarter interceptions.
It’s unusual for Heupel coached teams to win the way they did against Texas A&M. But it was a fitting way to win on an afternoon Tennessee honored one of its best defenders in program history.
