Going into Homecoming against University of Connecticut, there is very little history as far as the series goes. In fact, there is no history. The Volunteers have never played the Huskies in football. However, there is an intense rivalry between the Lady Vols and the Huskies on the hardwood, with Pat Summit battle with the Huskies starting in 1995, when U Conn defeated Tennessee twice, the second time for the National Championship. Overall, U Conn is 4-0 against UT in the title game.
The most powerful storyline as far as the football programs are concerned likely has to do with the coaches. In 2009, Lane Kiffin was hired as the head coach of the Volunteers football program. After a single season, he jetted away from Knoxville, taking the head coaching job at USC, and leaving the Athletic Department scrambling for a replacement. An overmatched Derek Dooley was hired to replace him, and UT only won 5 SEC games in his three seasons, losing 17. He was replaced by Butch Jones, who almost led a resurrection, only to crash to 4-8 his final year, going 14-26 in the SEC in his five seasons. Jones led to Jeremy Pruitt, whose failures on the field and in his unethical and illegal recruiting behavior still haunt Knoxville, and will bring them restrictions for years to come.
What does any of this have to do with U Conn, though? Jim Mora, the Huskies head coach, took over the head coaching position with the Seattle Seahawks after Mike Holmgren retired after the 2008 season. Mora’s Hawks barely improved on Holmgren’s final season record, going 5-11 to finish 2009. They lost their last four games, never scoring more than 13 points in the final month of the season. Mora was fired, and USC’s Pete Carroll took over. It was Mora’s firing which led to Pete Carroll leaving USC, and it was Pete Carroll leaving USC which was the catalyst for Lane Kiffin to abandon UT after a solitary season. Thus, it can be construed that the Dark years for the Volunteers are directly related to Jim Mora.
It may well be this storyline spilled over into the Huskies ears. U Conn players invaded the UT side of the field during pregame warmups, and even Coach Josh Heupel got into the fray before the teams were separated. Even after the game, Mora and Heupel were cold towards one another, exchanging only a terse handshake before separating without saying a word to one another.
The aggression from the pregame spilled over in game, as running back Jalen Wright took a handoff on the second play from scrimmage, tore through an arm tackle, then raced through the middle of the U Conn defense for over 80 yards and an early 7-0 lead. On their next possession,
Quarterback Joe Milton threw incompletions to the tight end McCallan Castles on the first and last play of the drive, leading to a punt. At that point, he had completed three of five passes for 27 yards. After that, Milton completed his next eight passes for over 225 yards and 2 touchdowns, both over 60 yards, as well as running for another. His last pass of the half was a Hail Mary which hit the dirt. Milton was the most accurate I have seen him all year. This is the Joe Milton I have been hoping to see all year. After his collapse against Alabama and a lackluster performance against Kentucky, I thought a game like this was almost impossible. I am glad to be proven wrong.
The defense gave up yards more than a few times to the Huskies. Specifically, Husky tight end Justin Joly was a nightmare for UT defenders. He caught 8 passes for 89 yards and was frequently fighting through multiple tacklers. But his day did very little to help his team on the scoreboard. Tennessee dominated the game on the stat sheets, holding the visitors to barely over 250 yards and only 3 points. Tennessee’s defenders got their hands on the ball three times throughout the game, returning two interceptions and a fumble for defensive scores. Before the UT offense took the field in the second half, the Volunteers were up 49-3, and Milton stayed on the sideline as freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava stepped onto the field.
Nico played better than his box score would indicate. His receivers either dropped the ball or had it go through their hands multiple times as he ended his day 5/9 for 86 yards and a touchdown. His pass to Castles was wonderfully done. Nico took the snap from shotgun, scanned the field, and then started to tuck the ball and took a couple running steps forward. But it was a feint. The U Conn defense froze or slowed, but it was enough for Castles to get free, and Nico popped up and tossed the ball to him in stride for the score. Iamaleava put UT in position to score earlier in the drive by beautifully scrambling for a first down under duress on a passing play, evading pressure and escaping a collapsing pocket for over 20 yards.
The rest of the game was largely performative and formality. Rocky Top’s third string QB came in a drove down for a field goal as well as a time killing drive to end the game within spitting range of the endzone. Tennessee’s defense stopped the Huskies time and again, only allowing points on U Conn’s first possession. If there was anything to complain about, it was reffing again. Tennessee once again was vastly over penalized compared to their opponents, and the Volunteer’s defense only got one sack due to excessive holding from U Conn linemen multiple times.
This is the game I have been waiting to see from the Volunteers. It has taken two months and a pair of heartbreaking losses before a dominant and complete game occurred. When UT plays like this, with Joe Milton hitting receivers in stride and the defense plays aggressive and sticky coverage and swarms to tackle, they can beat anyone. And that includes next week’s opponent, Mizzou, and even the Georgia Bulldogs in two weeks.