KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After a week of doom and gloom over the offensive line, Tennessee football rebounded Saturday for a great day in the trenches. After three first-half sacks that were not all the fault of the offensive line, it gave up zero in the second half.
One reason could be the change to quarterback George MacIntyre, who finished the day 8 for 10. The 86 yards that MacIntyre threw for won’t win any statistical awards, but the impressive poise to lead an offense fresh off the bench without making mistakes says a lot. Also, with 12 personnel working wonders with DeSean Bishop carrying the load, there was no reason at all for head coach Josh Heupel to make MacIntyre toss the ball around the yard 20 times.
“I’m really proud of George. I think he stepped up. He got his number called,” right tackle Jesse Perry said. “O-line, we just try to block our tail off, protect him, get the ground game running. And then once you get the ground game running like that, that helps out with the pass game, and it’s just complementary football with both phases of the offense.”
After going back to watch the game again, I really like what I saw from MacIntyre. The word “confident” can’t be used enough. He is a sophomore but only saw minimal opportunities before Saturday. The biggest takeaway other than poise was that he allowed his big-time receivers to make plays.
MacIntyre didn’t wait for Braylon Staley to be wide open on a third-and-8 before halftime. He put the ball in there on a spot and allowed Staley the chance to make the catch. At this level, you have to let it go and trust yourself and your guys to make this thing work, and he did that a few times.
On Tennessee’s first drive after halftime, a 42-yard catch and run by Mike Matthews was caught in a window. That showed again that MacIntyre isn’t afraid to let it rip, and once again, he let his receiver make a play. These guys are Division I wide receivers for a reason. Get them the ball. Sometimes a quarterback has to make his receiver available because there will not always be a wide-open target. Those are the things that separate him in the throw game and allow this offense to move. It also allows for less pressure on the offensive line to hold blocks for five seconds.
Another thing was his ability to sell the keep on Bishop’s 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to put the Vols up 10-7. Even though MacIntyre isn’t your huge run threat, he still froze Auburn safety Eric Winters on who to take. That sprung Bishop into an open run to the end zone.
“Really proud of George, man,” Bishop said. “You never know when your number may get called, and he was prepared for his moment.”
Saturday saw a lot of positives from MacIntyre’s entrance, and the offense opened up. He wasn’t perfect and had some things that he will need to sharpen up on. On the one sack that he took, there was open space to his right to get yards on the ground. No one was there because Donovan Haslam literally had nobody to block. But it’s also easy to say what I saw versus what he actually saw on the field.
You always have to be cautious before crowning anyone anything, but I saw nothing on Saturday to make me feel MacIntyre isn’t ready for QB1.
