Vols Rush Past Falcons in a Crazy Game, 59-30

Staff Photo by Mike Stanley

When Tennessee opened the season on Saturday against Bowling Green, they could have only imagined the events that would transpire that evening. On this evening some truly bizarre events took place, First, the heralded defense was anything but effective against the Falcons’ passing attack (424 yds). Secondly, the head referee, Ken Williamson, dropped a proverbial F-Bomb on national television. Also, during a 2 hour and 10 minute lightning delay, there was a crazed fan who ran onto the field and got clotheslined by security, and a proposal took place in the crowd (she said yes). But, back to football, the Vols rushed for 399 yards en route to a 59-30 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon.

The Volunteers didn’t take long to jump out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter, thanks in large part to the punt return ability of Cam Sutton, who set the Vols offense up inside the BGSU 40 twice during that time. It was the second straight game the Vols have scored 21 in the opening quarter, as they did so against Iowa in the Taxslayer Bowl in Jacksonville to end last season.

That is when the defensive secondary issues started for Tennessee. The 3-step fade route against UT’s Micah Abernathy worked wonders for the Falcons, in particular Gehrig Dieter, who finished the game with 7 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. By midway through the 2nd quarter the game was once again close at 21-20.

Unfortunately, for the Falcons that would be as close as they could get. Tennessee scored twice more before the half and led 35-20 at the break. The Falcons would get it back to 42-30, before Alvin Kamara slammed the door with 56-yard rush to paydirt and the Vols would never look back.

Alvin Kamara, in his first game in orange and white, would rush for 144 yards on just 15 carries, while fellow running back Jalen Hurd would amass 123 yards on 23 carries, making them the first running back tandem in Tennessee to rush for 100+ yards since 2009. Hurd explains to Vol Nation to expect that all season, “We’re just trying to rep and do everything we can to do awesomely for the Tennessee Vols and get this team to a championship.”

The game also marked the first game with the new offensive coordinator, Mike DeBord, and I would say it was successful as the Vols scored 8 touchdowns and had over 600 yards in total offense. Head Coach Butch Jones was extremely pleased with his new OC, “I thought Mike called a terrific game, offensively.” Jones wasn’t the only one speaking highly of Debord. Josh Dobbs also liked playing his first game in that offense. “It was great. It was like we just picked up where we left off. We have a great relationship,” Dobbs added, “We have really grown this Summer and finally coming out and getting the chance to play a game was great tonight.”

Tennessee will return home this Saturday against Oklahoma in this year’s “Checker Neyland” game, so be sure to find out which color you are to wear if you are going to the game!

Staff Photo by Mike Stanley