Tennessee football made easy work Kent State, annihilating the Golden Flashes 71-0 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night.
Here’s four quick takeaways on the Vols’ blowout victory.
Tennessee Leaves No Doubt Early
Coming off a big win against NC State and ahead of a massive SEC opener against Oklahoma, this was a classic look ahead spot for Tennessee. It wouldn’t have been a massive surprise if Tennessee came out a little slow in the first quarter. That was far from the case, though hapless Kent State aided them in that regarded.
Let’s take a look at the first quarter as a whole. Tennessee led 37-0 by the time it was over, breaking a new program record for most points scored in a single quarter.
The Vols scored five touchdowns on five drives and one safety on defense due to a bad Kent State snap. Kent State didn’t record a single first down in the game’s opening quarter and, in fact, had -43 total yards because of a pair of a trio of bad snaps.
It was an absolute beat down that looked incredibly easy. In fact, Tennessee even pulled a bizarre move and used an onside kick that they recovered.
In a look ahead spot, Tennessee put the game away in the game’s opening minutes.
Some Interesting Notes On Receiver Rotation
Tennessee has played a lot of receivers through two games this season, but the starters and the rotation largely looked the same in those two games.
But the Vols mixed some things up against the Golden Flashes. Chas Nimrod started in place of Chris Brazzell and caught Nico Iamaleava’s first pass of the game. Nimrod played for the full first two drives of the game before Brazzell came in for him and promptly caught a 53 yard touchdown pass from Iamaleava.
Another Tennessee receive that earned an abundance of early playing time was freshman Mike Matthews. The former five-star missed the first two games of the season due to injury but was in playing the slot on the second drive of the night.
Matthews had a really nice debut, catching two passes for 35 yards and a touchdown while also having a nice kick return.
Dont’e Thornton didn’t come in until later on in the first half and earned most of his playing time came after Iamaleava exited the game.
One final note on the receivers, Tennessee played with a four-receiver set in the first half. I can’t remember them ever doing that under Josh Heupel and is another wrinkle they can go to with their improved depth.
More From RTI: Watch As Nico Iamaleava Throws Gorgeous 53-Yard Touchdown Against Kent State
Gaston Moore Turns In A Fantastic Performance
One of the things I wrote that I wanted to see from Tennessee in this game was a strong performance from Gaston Moore after he didn’t turn in a great outing in the Vols’ season-opening win over Chattanooga.
Moore played only two drives in the second quarter, but he was fantastic against the Golden Flashes. The redshirt-senior quarterback led two touchdown drives while completing all four of his pass attempts for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
Moore’s best play of the night came on third-and-seven when he threw a beautiful deep ball to Thornton for a 53-yard gain. Just two plays later, Moore found a wide open Miles Kitselman for a 15-yard touchdown.
Then operating in the two-minute drill to end the half, Moore found Matthews for the previously mentioned nice touchdown.
I would have liked to see Moore get more than two drives in the blowout win, but he made the absolute most of his opportunities.
Records Broken And Other Wild Stats
– Tennessee’s 37 first quarter points its the most in a single quarter in program history.
– Tennessee’s 65 first half points was its most in a single half in program history. The Vols had previously broken the record two weeks ago against Chattanooga.
– Tennessee’s 71 points was its most in a single game in modern history. The previous record was 70.
– Dylan Sampson rushed for four touchdowns which was tied John Kelly (Georgia Tech 2017) for the most rushing touchdowns in a single game in modern Tennessee history. Through three games, Sampson has nine rushing touchdowns. The single-season Tennessee rushing touchdown record is 18.
– Tennessee’s 740 yards of offense was its most in program history.
– The final yardage discrepancy was a staggering 740-112.
