The Chattanooga Mocs are not on the same level as the Tennessee Volunteers. Never have been. They are literally separated into different levels of College Football. And on Saturday, August 31st, it showed.
The Nico Iamaleava (QB, rFr) era started with a good sign. Tennessee took the opening kickoff 35 yards, and then the offense efficiently averaged nearly 6 yards a play, Nico completed every pass, and Dylan Sampson (RB, Jr) finished the drive in Josh Heupel fashion. After a timeout, Sampson rushed for 6 yards, the team reset, and ran another play less than ten seconds later, and plunged in for the first Vol touchdown of the year.
Tennessee didn’t let up after that. A forced fumble put the ball back in Iamaleava’s hands, and he hit his next three passes to get UT back in the endzone, and a 14-0 lead. A quick a deep TD pass to Dont’e Thornton (WR, Sr) put Tennessee up 21-0. A field goal put them up 24-0 at the end of the first quarter. Less than a minute into the second quarter, they were up 31-0. Nico started 10/10 for 159 yards and 2 scores and finished 22/28 for 335 yards and 3 scores. Dylan Sampson rushed for 124 yards on 12 carries and a trio of his own scores. Dont’e Thornton and Bru McCoy (WR, rSr) combined for 9 catches and 193 yards and 2 scores. McCoy had a gorgeous jumping snag inside the 10-yard line to set up a score, and Thornton has already exceeded his touchdown catches from 2023. The offense seemed to already rest on their laurels before half, as their last two drives were filled with penalties and both ended in punts.
The defense was just about as effective. A great hustle play by Tyre West (DL, Jr) took him down the line of scrimmage in pursuit of the ball carrier, and he punched out the ball, resulting in a turnover. The first quarter defense only allowed 23 yards with three punts and the aforementioned fumble. The second half was almost as good, with only 41 yards allowed and four punts. Keenan Pili (LB, rSr) and Arion Carter (LB, So) were secure in the middle of the defense. The starters on defense also called it a day after half.
The good was great. The offense the first seven drives were almost perfect. Nico was accurate, with over 300 yards and three scores while completing nearly 90% of his passes. He showed everything last year’s starter, Joe Milton, was missing: accurate throws to moving targets down field. He was not perfect, but he is what Josh Heupel’s offense needs. They were fast, too, snapping the ball around every 20 seconds off the game clock in the first half, and frequently faster. And the defense shut out the Mocs through the first 30+ minutes, and allowed fewer than 100 yards. The game was going so well, true freshman Jake Merklinger (QB, Fr) took over to start the first UT drive of the 4th quarter.
But it wasn’t all pretty. Tennessee had back-to-back drives which floundered to end the half. With a two minute drill to score, Nico’s offense sputtered, with plays squandered by penalties. Back up quarterback Gaston Moore (QB, rSr) threw an ugly interception nearly returned for a touchdown. The defense did not do a good job penetrating or overwhelming the Mocs’ offensive line, garnering only one sack by the starters, and much lauded James Pearce Jr (DL, Jr) was absent from the stat sheet. And both sides of the ball, and the special teams, were plagued by penalties. Multiple punt returns were pushed back due to holding. The last drive of the half was pulled back by an unfortunate chop block penalty, although the penalties slowed down a lot in the second half.
A win was mostly a foregone conclusion by the end of the first quarter, and the rest of the game played out that way, right down to a blocked punt and recovery by the newly arrived 5-Star Jordan Ross (DL, Fr) to put Tennessee up 69-3 with just over a minute to go. Tennessee set a school record 36 first downs and put up over 700 offensive yards and converting 9 of 15 3rd downs, while only allowing 227 yards and a brilliant 1 of 14 3rd downs to be converted.
Tennessee (1-0) is set to play NC State (1-0) in the Duke’s Mayo Classic next week.