After Tennessee blew Chattanoga away 69-3 in week 1, they headed over the Smokies to meet with a rare, but potentially challenging opponent. The North Carolina State Wolfpack have played against the Tennessee Volunteers only three times previously, and never in Knoxville. UT lost the first meeting in 1911, won the second in 1939, then didn’t meet again until 2012, a 35-21 neutral site win for the Vols. Tennessee got their hands on four NC State passes from eventual 3rd round NFL Draft pick Mike Glennon to spur the team to victory.
But NC State is led this year by Grayson McGall, a quarterback with a trio of Conference Player of the Year awards at Coastal Carolina where he compiled over 10,000 yards before transferring to the Wolfpack. He is throwing passes to KC Concepcion, a rising underclassman who corralled three touchdowns in week 1 and was the best Freshman receiver in the ACC in 2023, and tight end Justin Joly, who played against Tennessee in 2023 with U Conn where he had his second-best game of the year. Justin Waters, a newcomer from Duke, ran for over 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns to start 2024.The offensive line is anchored by four graduates with at least two dozen starts a piece, and a highly rated sophomore with over a dozen starts himself.
But Tennessee’s offense weapons can at least match, and likely exceed, what the Wolfpack can muster. Nico Iamaleava (QB, rFr) has only a pair of starts after being a 5-Star recruit for head coach Josh Heupel, but he tore up the Iowa Hawkeye’s top defense for three rushing scores and one through the air before collecting over 300 yards and a trio of passing scores in less than a half of play in week one. Dylan Sampson (RB, Jr) earned four scores to open the 2024 season, and then scored three times while rushing for over 120 yards in only two quarters. Bru McCoy (WR, rSr) and Dont’e Thornton Jr (WR, Sr) combined for just under 200 yards on 9 catches.
The offense started by looking out of sorts. While not keeping up the speed fans of Heupel’s teams have become accustomed to, Nico missed his first pass after a short run was sniffed out early. But Nico did something last year’s starting Vols QB Joe Milton failed to do consistently; he picked up a first down with his feet. Nico scrambled for a dozen yards, then Dylan Sampson picked up a dozen of his own. Nico scrambled on each of the next two plays, getting hammered by Caden Fordham, who was ejected from his teams last game for targeting, both times.
It was on the third scramble of the drive, a 3-yard scamper to the sideline where Iamaleava was wrapped up then whipped around by Fordham out of bounds, that a pair of UT linemen were called for blocking out of bounds, driving a defensive lineman Brandon Cleveland through the Wolfpack players on the sideline. Cleveland ended up swinging at the pair of Vols, prompting a pair of flags, offsetting, and bringing up a third down. After the scuffle, Why Can’t We Be Friends by War played through the stadium’s speakers. The offense couldn’t recover after offsetting penalties, however, and punted it away.
The next drive, Nico threw an interception over the middle, missing Bru McCoy. After getting the ball back, Nico hit Squirrel White (WR, Jr) along the sideline for a 45-yard gain. But the offense again stalled, settling for a field goal. The offense was out of sync, and the penalties continued to pile up against them. Nothing looked abjectly terrible, but they were not clicking, passes weren’t getting to the receiver on target and on time. To make matters worse, Fordham and fellow linebacker Sean Brown were exploding into the backfield time and again, frequently embarrassing the Tennessee offensive line.
The defense looked out of sorts to begin. McGall was able to convert a few third downs to extend the drive to 12 plays, but the team only gained 29 yards on those dozen plays, thanks largely to a big second down sack by Omar Norman-Lott (DL, Sr) sandwiched by incomplete passes to force a punt. NC State’s next two drives both lost yards and ended in punts. The defense began showing cracks the next two drives. McGall completed his first pass for more than 10 yards in the game to move into field goal range, and the Wolfpack scored for the first time.
The offense really wanted to make a move after their defense held strong for a field goal as well as forcing an interception. And boy did they. Concepcion broke free for 28 yards, then backup NC running back Hollywood Smothers broke runs of 15 and 12 yards. Within three plays, State was at the Tennessee 20, getting into redzone. But two plays later, McGall attempted a pass over a blitzing Vol, and overshot Joly. Behind the big tight end was Tennessee’s Will Brooks (DB, rSr). Despite five years with the team and being a big special teams contributor, Brooks is a walk-on at Knoxville. But after he got his hands on the ball, he squared his shoulders with the opposing endline, lowered his head, and ran 85 yards for a pick-six and a 17-3 lead. After getting the ball back, a deflated Wolfpack offense only managed 7 yards on three plays before punting back to UT before the end of the half.
After the break, Iamaleava broke out well. He completed every pass on the drive, including 22 yards to Squirrel and a 15-yard score to Mile Kitselman (TE, Sr). Starting with a short field, Tennessee again looked confused, settling for a field goal after failing to get a first down. Another short field led to another third down after a short run and missed pass. But Nico took the snap, sidestepped a blitzer into a lineman, then sprinted up the middle of the field for a score from 31 yards out. The offense looked to be back.
But it was too good to be true. Nico’s next drive was ended when his arm was hit on a throw, resulting in an 87-yard pick six for NC State, and then the third quarter ended after a penalty washed away a 57-yard score. Nico used his feet again to bring the defensive attention to him before handing off to Sampson on a counter run. Sampson ran behind his blocks, threw an arm into the safety, then outran the same player into the endzone for a 34-yard score.
Once again, the offense looked as though they may have hit the reset button. To help matters, the defense put the offense into a great place. Also again, a series of runs pulled NC State into a fake from Nico. Faking to make another handoff, Iamaleava passed out to Holden Staes (TE, Jr), a transfer from Notre Dame for another touchdown. The score put UT over 50 points for the day, put Nico over 200 yards passing, and gave him three starts in a row with at least three scores.
As off kilter as the offense looked in the 3rd quarter, the defense looked borderline amazing following an early bad penalty. After allowing some movement by State, Tennessee was able to force a pair of penalties to put McGall well behind the sticks. Expecting pass, the Big Orange defensive line charged across the line of scrimmage. Dominic Bailey (DL, rSr) got a hand on the ball as Grayson was getting ready to throw it, forcing a fumble which he recovered. They next forced McGall’s offense into a short 4th down. NC State decided to go for it, and the defensive line stood McGall up by the penetrating defense.
Despite the lack of success, State’s offense did have to come back on the field. While Tennessee’s offense never seemed smooth on the night, the Wolfpack looked even worse. Their next drive only lasted one play, with McGall fumbling it to UT. Following Tennessee’s score, Grayson again failed to convert a 4th down. They opted away from a run, this time, rolling McGall out to the right. But a pair of UT defenders were bearing down on him, so he passed over their heads to his tight end, Justin Joly, with only a few yards to convert. But Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy (DB, Jr) came flying in from coverage to wrap up Joly, dragging him down short of the first down line. State’s next drive also went to 4th down, just as the final two-minute warning came in. By the end of the second half, the Wolfpack offense didn’t even eclipse 30 yards.
At the end of the game, the defense was the star. They held McGall to 104 yards on 22 passes, picked him off, and recovered two of his fumbles. Concepcion ended up with 5 receptions for 53 yards. Most of those yards came on a single reception, and 3 of his catches were on the first drive. Starting running back Jordan Waters carried 7 times for a loss of 4 yards. There was no one player who carried the defense, either, with multiple linemen blowing up plays, and the back end of the defense swarming to stop the Wolfpack from converting a single third down after their first drive.
Dylan Sampson was the most reliable part of the offense. He carried 20 times for over 130 yards and a pair of scores, plus a trio of catches for 37 yards. Nico ran 8 times himself for over 60 yards and his own score. No Vols receiver had more than 3 catches, but 8 players caught passes, averaging over 13 yards a catch.
As a team, the Vols offense converted 50% of their third downs and all their 4th down attempts. But penalties were a story for Heupel’s team yet again. Even Heup got a flag thrown on him. Tennessee bailed out their opponent too frequently for the second time in as many games this season. Getting behind the sticks and giving away first downs to their opponent will not set Tennessee up for success in Norman against Oklahoma, or against Alabama or Georgia. Fortunately, UT has another week to work through any rust.
Next week, Kent State (0-2) comes to Knoxville to play against the Volunteers (2-0).