Tennessee football’s top five performers in 45-42 win at Kentucky

4 tackles (2 solo); 1 INT; 1 TD

Alontae Taylor said earlier in the week that Tennessee football doesn’t lose to Kentucky, lamenting what happened last year at Neyland Stadium. If he were going to say that, though, he had to be one of the main guys to back it up on the field.

In many ways, Taylor seemingly failed to do that. He was responsible for coverage on Wan’Dale Robinson at times just like the rest of the defensive backs were, and nobody had an answer for him. Robinson finished the game with 13 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown.

However, lack of tackling up front put a lot of pressure on the defensive backs, as Kentucky managed to stay on the field a lot and ran 97 plays. Naturally, they were going to rack up lots of yards through the air, and Robinson usually beat the safeties.

Still, regardless of those stats, Taylor had the big play of the game. In the third quarter, a Jabari Small touchdown put the Vols up 31-28. The game was clearly turning into a shootout, and UT’s defense, unable to make a stop, needed a big play.

That’s when Taylor came through. On a 2nd and 10 pass play, Taylor was guarding Robinson, but he never looked at Robinson. He looked at Will Levis the whole time and baited him to throw Robinson’s way. As Levis did, Taylor picked off the pass and ran it the other way for a score.

Hey, a pick-six is a nice way to back up your talk. Taylor saved Tennessee football with that play, and it was the most critical play of the game. Add in the fact that he kept Josh Ali out of the end zone, and he had a solid night with a huge play.