Tennessee football 5 takeaways: Vols tame Wildcats in dominating fashion

Kentucky choked of a furball in Knoxville as the Vols tame the Wildcats. Tennessee football moves to 5-5 on the season. Here are the takeaways of the game.

Finally, Tyson Helton started off the game with something other than a run up the middle. And, it paid off. Jauan Jennings beat single coverage from Derrick Baity Jr. by drawing a pass interference flag. That play call set the tone for the rest of the game.

The offense and defense both played outstanding games that led to a Tennesse win over the number 11th ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Sure, a lot of us wasn’t convinced Kentucky was a top-15 team, but this is still a massive win for Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols.

Here are five takeaways from the game against the Kentucky Wildcats.

1. Hello Jordan Murphy

How good did wide receiver Jordan Murphy look? Sure, he only made two plays but they really important to the game. The Vols defense made Kentucky start the game with two straight three-and-outs. The Vols second offensive possession was started with a 38-yard pass from Jarrett Guarantano to Murphy.

His other big play came in the third quarter where he took an end around 59 yards. For a second it looked like Murphy was going to take it to the house. He didn’t score, but the run did set up a two-yard touchdown pass to give the Vols a 24-0 lead.

2. Guarantano solid yet again

Another game where Jarrett Guarantano is going to get hate. I suppose it just comes with the territory of being a starting quarterback. I get a lot of hate for taking up for Guarantano, and I’ll admit he didn’t have his best game throwing the ball. He was only 12-of-20 for 197 yards. But, he did have two touchdowns with zero interceptions.

Guarantano also broke a record held by Casey Clausen during the game. At one point during the game, Guarantano reached 144 consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception. The sophomore quarterback has only thrown two interceptions all year and only four in his 19-game career.

3. Defense starting to look like a Jeremy Pruitt defense

Tennessee’s defense continues to get better, we think. I know Kentucky’s offense isn’t anything to brag about, but the Vols shut them down. Kentucky only had one offensive yard in the second quarter. ONE YARD. That’s how dominant the defense was playing.

Dating back to the fourth quarter of the South Carolina game, the defense has only given up one touchdown in nine quarters of action. The Vols forced Kentucky into two interceptions and one fumble.

4. Offensive line + running game = too much for the Cats

This is the first time I think we can honestly say the offensive line actually looked decent. Of course, there were a couple of false start penalties from Drew Richmond, but that’s to be expected at this point in the season.

With the good offensive line play came a running attack, makes sense right? Running backs Ty Chandler and Tim Jordan led the way. Chandler finished the game with 89 rushing yards on q6 carries and Jordan finished with 63 rushings yards on 15 carries. Jordan was able to score his third rushing touchdown of the year with a three-yard run.

5. Darrell Taylor

Honestly, that’s all I need to say. Darrell Taylor went off again. His performance against the Wildcats was something to celebrate. In the history of the football program, there have only been two other players have a four-sack game. The great Reggie White did it against the Citadel in 1983, and Corey Miller did it against Kentucky in 2013.

This isn’t the only game that Taylor has made game-changing impacts. Earlier in the season against the Georgia Bulldogs, Taylor enjoyed a dominating game with three sacks and two forced fumbles.

Although Kentucky might have been the most overrated top-12 team of all time, the Vols took care of business. From the opening play, it just felt like Tennessee was going to win the game. Sitting at 5-5, Tennessee only needs one more win to reach the six-win mark to make a bowl game.