For the second straight week, Ty Chandler was highly effective. And this time, he didn’t fumble the ball, proving that those issues against the Georgia State Panthers were just an anomaly. Sometimes those things happen, and Jim Chaney does deserve credit for staying committed to Chandler throughout the game. He was the feature back ahead of Eric Gray this time.
Despite poor blocking once again from Tennessee football’s interior offensive line, Chandler averaged nearly six yards a carry with 26 carries for 154 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown like he did last week, but he consistently hit the holes when he needed to. It’s exactly what we expected from him entering the season.
Chaney did a good job of getting creative with Chandler as well, giving him lots of carries on tosses to make up for the poor interior blocking. Chandler made sure to take advantage of that as well, and he now is averaging over 100 yards a game.
The only drawback was Chandler’s struggles this game with the ball in open space. Usually he is great at eluding defensive backs, and that’s why Jarrett Guarantano even went to him twice on check-downs. But he always seemed to get caught, which was uncharacteristic of him. Still, he did more than enough to get on this list. And we expect him to continue to shine in the future.