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Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 20-10 win vs. Mississippi St.

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Tim Jordan #9 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with Brandon Kennedy #55 and Jerrod Means #14 after rushing for a fifteen yard touchdown during the first half of a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Tim Jordan #9 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with Brandon Kennedy #55 and Jerrod Means #14 after rushing for a fifteen yard touchdown during the first half of a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images /

Six games in, Tennessee football beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs for its first FBS win. Here are our takeaways from the Volunteers’ victory against MSU.

Well, they finally did it. Tennessee football wore the orange jerseys and orange pants to upset the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday afternoon for its first win over an FBS team, and it came against a Power Five team in the SEC at that.

In a noon kickoff, UT jumped out to a 7-0 lead off a Tim Jordan run after getting into the red zone on their first two offensive possessions, the first of which ended in an interception. They also stopped MSU and forced them to punt on their first two offensive drives.

A late Bulldog field goal cut it to 7-3, but after their second interception of the game, the Vols were able to get a 49-yard field goal from Brent Cimaglia to make it 10-3 at halftime. However, Brian Maurer got hurt on the previous drive, one in which he threw his second red zone interception, so Jarrett Guarantano had to play in the second half.

Guarantano set up another score for Tennessee football on a field goal drive with a 41-yard pass, and then, with his team up late 13-10, he hit Tyler Byrd for a touchdown pass to win the game. UT then got a stop after MSU missed a field goal with less than a minute left and ran out the clock for a 20-10 upset win.

For the game, Guarantano was six-of-seven for 106 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. Meanwhile, Maurer was four-of-seven for 61 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions but also had three carries for 41 yards.

MSU used both Tommy Stevens and Garrett Shrader, in the first and second halves respectively. Stevens was six-of-11 for 67 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, while Shrader was five-of-10 for 79 yards and one touchdown with one interception.

On the ground, Stevens had nine carries for 26 yards, Shrader had 13 carries for 62 yards and Kylin Hill had 11 carries for 13 yards. None of them had touchdowns. Meanwhile, UT saw Ty Chandler get 13 carries for 63 yards while Tim Jordan had 19 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Byrd led UT in receiving with three receptions for 56 yards, while Osirus Mitchell led MSU with five receptions for 58 yards. Deddrick Thomas caught MSU’s only touchdown on the day, though. Overall, UT had 357 yard to Mississippi State’s 267, and they forced three turnovers while MSU had only two.

The Vols entered the game with a 1-4 record and faced a Mississippi State team coming off a bye. With the win, they move to 2-4 and 1-2 in the SEC. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs fall to 3-3 and also 1-3 in the league.

It’s hard to overstate how big of a win this is, as it puts Jeremy Pruitt’s team back in the bowl picture given their November schedule, even if it is still of an uphill climb. But we’ll get to that later, as they have to face the Alabama Crimson Tide next week. Here five takeaways from Tennessee football’s gigantic upset win over Mississippi State.

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