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Tennessee football vs. Bowling Green: 10 keys to the game

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee quarterbacks Hendon Hooker (5) and Joe Milton III (7) during morning football practice on campus on Friday, August 20, 2021.Kns Ut Football Practice Bp
Tennessee quarterbacks Hendon Hooker (5) and Joe Milton III (7) during morning football practice on campus on Friday, August 20, 2021.Kns Ut Football Practice Bp /

6. Deep-ball accuracy, or lack thereof, from quarterbacks

Receivers emerging is one part of the Bowling Green Falcons being able to bring balance to their offense. The other part is their quarterback being able to throw the deep ball accurately so the play-action is a legitimate threat after running their Power I.

Last year, Matt McDonald completed just 43.9 percent of his passes for one touchdown and six interceptions. He’s once again the starter this year, but if he can’t throw the deep ball better, BGSU will be in real trouble. He doesn’t even need a great completion percentage. It just has to be better than that, and he has to do better than gaining less than six yards a pass attempt.

On the other side, though, the Vols are entering a new era themselves at quarterback with Joe Milton. At 6’5″ and over 240 pounds, Milton is the one quarterback on the roster Josh Heupel specifically went after, as he got him to transfer away from the Michigan Wolverines.

Milton has a cannon for an arm, but in five starts with Michigan last year, he went 2-3, completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes and had four touchdowns and four interceptions. In Heupel’s vertical system, he’s got to hit some home runs as well. Simply put, the quarterback who can hit a home run first on an accurate deep ball gives his team the advantage in this game.

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