KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Inside a raucous Neyland Stadium, the No. 14 Tennessee football team hosted No. 1 Texas. This game had all of the buzz, and it got louder as the week went on.
However, Texas moved through the noise of the pro-Vol crowd on a seven-play, 75-yard opening drive that ended with a Raleek Brown nine-yard touchdown run. Texas did just enough up front to move the ball. The big play of the drive came from an Arch Manning 43-yard completion to Emmett Mosley.
Tennessee answered with a penalty-aided drive that ended in a Cooper Ranvier field goal. Texas gave Tennessee 30 yards on penalties from a roughing-the-passer call on Lance Jackson and a pass interference call on Bo Mascoe. Faizon Brandon began the drive with an 11-yard completion to Braylon Staley. DeSean Bishop added 13 yards on the ground.
The Vols’ defensive front made an immediate impact on the Longhorns’ next drive. Tyree Weathersby sacked Manning for a loss of eight to start the drive. After Texas got into a 3rd and 12, Manning completed a pass to keep the drive moving but was beyond the line of scrimmage. That forced Texas to punt.
The Longhorns’ defensive front won the battle. Tennessee tried to establish the run in the first quarter but averaged three yards per carry. Colin Simmons also recorded his first sack of the game on Tennessee’s second offensive drive to force a punt. Brandon had a window for a completion downfield but hesitated and was flushed to the left, right into Simmons’ grasp.
Tennessee got into the backfield at times against the Texas o-line. Xavier Gilliam recorded a sack and a tackle for loss right before the first quarter ended. But Manning still went down the field to get the Longhorns in field goal position on their second offensive drive. They settled for three to increase their lead to 10-3.
Earlier in the first quarter, Wendell Moe Jr. went down and exited. Then, on the Vols’ first drive of the second quarter, Brandon went down after Rasheem Biles and Justin Cryer tackled him, with both falling on Brandon’s shoulder. That inserted George MacIntyre, and the Vols went on to punt.
Tennessee needed to slow Manning down, and on the next drive, Kayin Lee intercepted a deep ball that was intended for Cam Coleman. But Tennessee went five plays for 13 yards and punted.
Texas got in its own way the next time out. Manning took a 12-yard loss on a high snap, and the drive never recovered. He did run for 11 yards on third down but was well short of the line to gain.
Brandon returned to the game on the next drive and began with a designed quarterback run for seven yards up the middle. He picked up another run of 10 a couple of plays later. Then, after a sack on 3rd and 13, Simmons bailed out Tennessee with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting, after he impersonated urinating. That gave the Vols new life on the drive. However, after getting into Longhorn territory, the Vols turned it over on downs. Brandon went for a completion to Staley on the left side but came up empty. It was a questionable no-call on pass interference.
Tennessee’s defensive line continued to stuff the run. Daevin Hobbs and Amare Campbell put Texas behind the sticks with a four-yard tackle for loss on Brown. Texas averaged only 1.3 yards on 16 first-half carries for 20 yards. Tennessee got the ball back with 51 seconds before the half, but took it to the locker room.
My first half takeaways for Tennessee, is their offensive line has to do a better job period. Brandon also has to hit a few reads faster. On the defensive side, their run defense was better than you could have asked for. However, they have to get to Manning at a better rate. He finished the first half 9 of 11 for 127 yards with one interception. It is worth noting that 87 of his yards came on just three completions.
