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

2. Backups made all the plays on offense.

The headline is the quarterback, and it should be. Brian Maurer, after throwing two red zone interceptions and suffering a bad head injury, came out with a stat line of four-of-seven for 61 yards and three carries for 41 yards.

All Jarrett Guarantano did was go six of seven for 106 yards and the key touchdown to clinch the game. But what really stood out was how Guarantano came through. The coaches did not trust him at first, calling nine running plays in a row on his first two offensive drives.

Then, on the third drive, they called a pass play for him on 3rd and 3. He hit Ramel Keyton, a backup wide receiver, for a 41-yard pass to set up another field goal in the third quarter and put Tennessee football up 13-3.

Guarantano’s touchdown pass, meanwhile, was to another backup in Tyler Byrd, who hadn’t had a catch all season. He had three in this game and led the team in receiving with three receptions for 56 yards.

Meanwhile, Tim Jordan, the running back who had been playing behind Eric Gray and Ty Chandler for a while, had the first touchdown of the game along with 19 carries for 59 yards overall. He also had a key catch on 3rd and 6 right before that Byrd TD while UT was clinging to a 13-10 lead. So Guarantano is the story, but numerous backups deserve credit for today’s play in the win.