48 Hours: Vols Throttle Mizzou
Four things I'm still thinking about forty-eight hours removed from the Vols whooping up on Mizzou in Columbia.
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The Tennessee Volunteers did not punt on Saturday in Columbia. The ballgame was over before the end of the first quarter. Tiyon Evans had three rushing touchdowns, but he really had four. After the victory, Hendon Hooker climbed to No. 5 in passing efficiency on a national scale. Head coach Josh Heupel now has notched three wins where the Vols have won by 30-plus points, which surpassed the previous head ball coach Jeremy Pruitt who only mustered two 30-plus point victories total during his time in Knoxville.
Now that we’ve had 48 hours to think about the Vols beating the Tigers 62-24 Saturday afternoon, I would like to dive into a couple of items that I’m still thinking about this Monday.
It’s official, but Heupel has confirmed Hooker is QB1 for the Vols on Saturday against the lowly Gamecocks of South Carolina and for the foreseeable future, good health permitting, of course. Heupel wanted Joe Milton, Pruitt and Jim Chaney wanted Hooker. It looked like the latter got a really raw deal after he made the jump to Knoxville to play for an entirely different coaching staff and scheme. Hooker, to his credit, stayed and busted his tail to put himself in a position to win the job. The story of perseverance for Hooker to not waver as Milton was named the starter before the season and fans in Neyland calling for Harrison Bailey after every Milton overthrow. Hooker could have wavered and lost confidence in himself. Instead, he stayed the course and the Vols now lead one of the more explosive and fun offenses in the country.
Tennessee’s beatdown of Mizzou was a stunner for a lot of folks who have not paid close attention to the Vols this season. It was a surprise to folks who have become too jaded by watching too many previous Volunteer seasons. Sure, they thought, the Vols should be able to run the ball against that anemic Tiger front, but can we at least see it before we pound Bud Lights up and down Kingston Pike? It was also a surprise to the computers, specifically BCF Toys, a fantastic college football website that focuses on the critical stats fans need to be cognizant of. The Vols gave the computers the biggest projection error of the weekend in all of FBS competition with a 39.4 PE. When statistical models like BCF Toys are this off you can go a little easier on folks who did not expect this sort of performance coming from the Vols on Saturday.
I watched the entirety of Kansas State vs. Oklahoma on FOX after the Tennessee game. Eric Gray, remember him? The former Volunteer running back currently sits at 73 in PFF grade for all halfbacks in FBS through five weeks of the 2021-22 season. Tiyon Evans to this point? 19th. Jabari Small? 48th. Coming into the season, I expected the running back room to be an area of weakness for Heupel in Year 0. Instead, it has been the backbone of this high-powered offense that has made life so much easier for Hooker and company.
Speaking of Pro Football Focus, the Volunteers now have the No. 4 offense in the SEC per PFF. What’s more impressive is how this offense is exploding while the offensive line is crumbling. From Cooper Mays to Darnell Wright, the left side of the Volunteer offensive line has been a disaster through five weeks. Cedric Tillman, Javonta Payton and Jalin Hyatt have graded poorly through five weeks, too. It’s the three-headed monster of Hooker, Small and Evans carrying this offense by themselves. With Hooker the starter the rest of the way, I suspect those wide receiver grades will steadily improve, but we shall see.
