Tennessee football returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday night for its final time in nearly a month as they face Kent State before a pair of road games bookending the open date.
Kent State is not just a MAC team but one of the worst FBS teams in the entire country. The Golden Flashes likely won’t win more than two games this season so Tennessee is not on upset watch this week.
Every week in this article I’ll lay out three keys for Tennessee to earn a victory. But with the winner of the game in little doubt ahead of the instate matchup, I’ll lay out three keys for Tennessee to feel good exiting the matchup. Staying healthy is the obvious one, but I’m not going to include it because it is self explanatory.
More From RTI: See The Game Line For Tennessee Football’s Matchup Against Kent State
Receivers Involved In The Passing Game
The only negative that one could draw from Tennessee’s blowout win against NC State is that the receivers were not very involved in the passing game. Tennessee has strong depth at receiver this season but its unclear how effective the top end starters are.
Chris Brazzell, Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton looked great against Chattanooga but then were mostly non factors against NC State. Now, I think that was more about the circumstances of the game with Tennessee winning big and running an abundance of two tight end sets against the Wolfpacks’ 3-3-5 defense.
Still, Tennessee having consistent success throwing it to the receivers— particularly early in the game while Nico Iamaleava is still playing— would provide reason for optimism entering the SEC opener against Oklahoma.
Gaston Moore Performs Well
Tennessee backup quarterback Gaston Moore has an abundance of practice experience in Josh Heupel’s offense. He’s been with Heupel since before the offensive guru left Central Florida for Tennessee. But Moore doesn’t have a lot of game experience.
The Vols’ matchup against Kent State will give him plenty of game opportunities and those could prove important down the road. If Nico Iamaleava misses a game or two due to injury, Tennessee needs Moore to play well enough that they can beat teams like Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State or Vanderbilt.
Moore was shaky against Chattanooga, completing seven-of-12 passes for 69 yards and an interception. I’m excited to see how he’ll perform against the Golden Flashes.
Another Strong Performance From The Secondary
Tennessee’s secondary was its biggest question mark entering the season but they’ve performed very well through two games this season. Chattanooga didn’t look to test them much but NC State had the weapons to strain the Vols’ defensive backfield and they were unable to do so.
Kent State likely won’t be able to do a ton to test Tennessee’s secondary but after listening to head coach Kenni Burns this week, I expect them to be more aggressive than Chattanooga was.
It would be more telling if Tennessee’s secondary struggled in this one, but if they turn in another strong performance than it would provide plenty of reason for optimism entering the Oklahoma game.
