Tennessee football owes no explanation for win at Pitt

They needed overtime to win. Who cares? The Pittsburgh Panthers lost their quarterback. Tennessee football did last year. There were too many mistakes by the Vols in the game. UT won in spite of those mistakes, didn’t they? Pitt is overrated. Aren’t they defending ACC Champions?

No matter what you may hear questioning the Vols’ win at Pitt Saturday, ignore it. Yes, they could correct some things. The slow start, the blocked punt, the Jaylen Wright fumble and the muffed punt were all issues. They also needed some mistakes from Pitt, including two fumbles and two missed field goals.

However, no matter what way you slice it, Tennessee football beat a higher ranked team on the road. The Vols came into this one ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll and unranked in the Coaches Poll. Pitt, hosting this game, was No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll.

Why should the Vols ever apologize for winning such a game? Not only did they win. They technically covered, as depending on the line you went by, the spread was six to six and a half points. So they covered in a win against a higher-ranked team on the road.

On a day loaded with shockingly bad performances from supposedly elite SEC teams, isn’t that enough? This happened the same day the Texas A&M Aggies lost to the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Alabama Crimson Tide struggled to put away the Texas Longhorns.

Branching out beyond the SEC, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost at home to the Marshall Thundering Herd. How could anybody look at those performances and question what Tennessee football did in its win at Pitt?

Even with things to clean up, the Vols should be encouraged by this performance. If anybody makes the excuse of Pitt losing Kedon Slovis to injury, remember last year that the Vols lost Joe Milton III to injury, which brought Hendon Hooker into the game.

Want to make the case that Hooker was better than Pitt backup Nick Patti is? Fine. How come the Vols had a 24-17 lead when Slovis went out? Furthermore, do you see Alabama fans apologizing for knocking Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers out of the game?

Don’t you see why none of this make sense? Every excuse somebody could make to slight the Vols falls flat on its face when you dig deeper. Now yes, there are still some things they need to work on. Arguably the most concerning factor was pre-game jitters.

All the talk about the second-half miscues is overrated. Those were fluke plays that all came together in one half. They won’t happen regularly. What will happen, though, is the lack of a clutch gene showing up at the wrong time if they have those first-quarter issues in the future.

Still, that criticism is a bit shaky too, as Hendon Hooker was clutch enough to hit Cedric Tillman for a score in overtime after his touchdown was called back. In general, Tennessee football got a thrilling victory over a team that is dangerous. They have never beaten Pitt before. As a result, they don’t owe an explanation.