48 Hours: No. 15 Tennessee Beats UAB 56-24
What did we learn about the Volunteers following their latest lopsided victory over a G6 program?
No. 15 Tennessee moved to 3-1 on the season after its blowout victory over UAB on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. The Volunteers will now travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State, where the Vols are 2-2 since I entered this world in 1991. The Vols have now outscored their G6/FCS competition 128-41 in two games this season. Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel has always excelled at rallying the Vols after a loss, and Saturday against the Blazers was no different, as his team started hot again and ended the first quarter with a 21-0 lead.
Outside of Boo Carter’s big-time second half, the Vols looked and played like the team we have now come to know through four games. Tennessee has outscored its opponents 83-7 in the first quarter through four weeks, which included a better-than-we-thought Syracuse team and No. 3 Georgia. Tennessee ran the ball just fine, with redshirt freshman Peyton Lewis having his best game as a Vol this season. The Big 3 at wide receiver accounted for two touchdowns and over 150 yards receiving. Joey Aguilar threw for over 200 yards again. The Vols’ defense had nine TFLs and three sacks. The Vols’ secondary had lots of problems giving up chunk plays and has real issues on the back end.
We all know this about Tennessee through four weeks, no? There were no real surprises in this game, outside of not getting freshman George MacIntyre any reps in the second half. I do think Carter’s bounce-back second half, which included two forced fumbles, could prove to be the most important new development for Tennessee coming out of Saturday’s game. Carter played 41 snaps for the Vols on Saturday, his most this season. That number tied starting freshman cornerback Ty Redmond and was one shy of also tying starting redshirt sophomore cornerback Colton Hood. Tennessee did not need those two forced fumbles by Carter to beat the Blazers on Saturday in Knoxville, but they very much might need those kinds of second-half plays next Saturday in Starkville.
After his second-half surge, you wonder this week whether or not Carter has earned his way back into a more prominent role at STAR for Tim Banks’ defense, starting this week against Mississippi State. Redmond really struggled, and understandably so as a true freshman against a top-3 team, in his first go-around against SEC competition last week against Georgia. Do Banks and defensive backs coach Willie Martinez rotate hybrid Jalen McMurray at corner and STAR more this week against Mississippi State? Redmond’s 90-plus snaps against Georgia will pay long-term dividends for the former Milton star, but in the short term, one would think the Vols might want to try more Carter at STAR and more McMurray at corner, at least a bit, to not put so much on the true freshman in SEC play. In Blake Shapen’s one game against P4 competition this season, a huge upset victory over Arizona State, he had a 3:0 touchdown-to-interception ratio and averaged 8.5 YPA.
The secondary was the biggest question mark coming into the game against UAB, and it’s still the biggest question leaving the game. Who knows if/when we see starting cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III again this season? This question is not going away a third of the way through the 2025 regular season. Questions about safety with Andre Turrentine and Edrees Farooq will continue to linger. The Vols after week 4 of the college football season are dead-last in passing defense in the SEC, giving up 279 yards a game through the air. The Vols are dead last in touchdown passes allowed in the SEC at 6. The Vols are 126th in passing defense through four games. If the Vols want to get back to the College Football Playoff this season, those numbers have to improve in a hurry.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Tennessee Sports Renaissance Man to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.