Hendon Hooker threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman in overtime, and then Trevon Flowers came a way with a crucial sack on 3rd and goal to force a 4th and goal from the 20-yard line, which ended in an incomplete pass. In the process, Tennessee football beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 34-27 to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Josh Heupel’s team, ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll and one spot out of the Coaches Poll, fell behind 10-0 early but went into halftime up 24-17. Pitt, ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll, came back in the second half and scored a touchdown on 4th and goal late in the fourth quarter to send it into overtime.
Panthers quarterback Kedon Slovis went down with an injury in the first half, and Nick Patti played the second half. Up next for the Vols is a visit from the Akron Zips in a week. Pitt, which is now 1-1, will visit the Western Michigan Broncos. Here are five takeaways from Tennessee football’s win.
These are the things we learned from the Tennessee football Volunteers’ overtime victory at the Pittsburgh Panthers.
5. Vols showed they can win playing a different style.
This might be the most shocking part of the game. UT didn’t get the big plays. Pitt did. The Panthers had a 76-yard touchdown run and a 57-yard touchdown pass. Rocky Top’s longest score was a 32-yard touchdown from Hooker to Bru McCoy in regulation. For the most part, though, they were the ones moving the ball.
Honestly, Pitt is the one more about ball control, so the game was at their pace. However, that worked fine for UT. Sure, they still lost the time of possession battle, but they were able to mount solid drives, as two ended in one-yard touchdown runs from Jabari Small.
Although it was an ugly affair in many ways, that’s a great sign for Tennessee football going forward. Heupel’s offense doesn’t need those quick strikes to win, a big departure from last year. By the way, those two Small touchdowns showed they are a lot more physical this year too, as he also converted a 4th and 1.