Dan Fleser
Kent State was in over its head Saturday night against Tennessee – right from the center snap in a couple instances.
Three times in the first quarter, the Golden Flashes’ center overshot the quarterback, creating a blown play. The second such misfire sent the football bouncing into the end zone and resulted in a safety.
The Vols didn’t need this sort of help. They were locked in from the start of their 71-0 victory. So were the 101,915 who packed Neyland Stadium. The din they created at the outset might have impacted those center-quarterback exchanges. In any case, UT coach Josh Heupel paid tribute to both parties.
“The mentality, the attitude, the competitive edge, (the players) had that all week in the way they practiced. They came out that way tonight,” the coach said in his Vol Network interview. “Our fans were awesome, too. The Vol Walk was absolutely slammed. There’s nothing better in sports.”
The final warm-up for next week’s SEC showdown at Oklahoma was, in many ways, record-setting. The Vols set modern-era (since 1937) standards for points in a first quarter (37), first half (65) and a game. The 740 yards of total offense also was a school record. Running back Dylan Sampson tied a single-game modern record by scoring four touchdowns.
Overall, the offense scored TDs on its first nine possessions while the defense extended its streak of consecutive quarters without allowing a touchdown to 16.
With the game one-sided so quickly, Tennessee offered either a running clock or shorter quarters after halftime but the Golden Flashes refused. An NCAA rule allows for shortened playing time, provided there’s mutual agreement between the head coaches and the referee. South Alabama and Northwestern State agreed Thursday to shorten the fourth quarter by six minutes in the Jaguars’ 87-10 victory.
“I talked to the captains about it and they said, ‘Absolutely not.’ I said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Kent State coach Kenni Burns said. “It’s just not who we are at all as a football program. No way.”
Here’s some other notes and observations:
-Boo Carter got his hands on the football as punt returner, returning two for 55 yards. The former Bradley Central star’s second return was his longest, covering 35 yards.
As a defender, Carter nearly got his hands on the football in the end zone after the bad center snap. He dove for the ball but couldn’t secure it.
-UT’s deep receiving corps got deeper with the debut of freshman Mike Matthews, who caught two passes. The former five-star recruit also returned a kickoff. One of Matthews’ catches was an impressive leaping grab of a Gaston Moore throw for an 18-yard touchdown reception.
“I think we’ve seen his big-play ability in practice,” quarterback Nico Iamaleava said. “It was good to see it carry over to a game.”
-Speaking of quarterbacks, Iamaleava’s night was over in the second quarter and Moore didn’t play after halftime. Jake Merklinger, Navy Shuler and Ryan Damron divided up the second-half playing time.
-Starting left tackle Lance Heard was held out of the game but Heupel indicated that Heard could’ve played if necessary.
-The Vols rushed for 456 yards. Sampson and DeSean Bishop both topped 100 yards and freshman Peyton Lewis logged 99 on 10 carries. Bishop, who was redshirted last season after suffering an ankle injury, had a career-high 122 yards with TD runs of 53 and 47 yards. He averaged a whopping 17.1 yards per carry.
“You can just tell he’s getting more comfortable the more he’s touching the ball,” Sampson said. “He hasn’t played that much football in a couple of years, so that’s real, taking time away. But he’s adjusting week by week.”
-Like last week against North Carolina State, the tight ends were a big factor in multiple ways. Holden Staes lined up in the backfield and threw key blocks on TD runs by Bishop and Sampson. From a backfield deployment, fellow tight end Miles Kitselman leaked out for a 15-yard scoring pass from Moore.
-Safety Jakobe Thomas was called for targeting and ejected after making a tackle in the second quarter. Since the penalty occurred in the first half, Thomas will be available against Oklahoma.
Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S. Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.