Tennessee Workers – UT VolsKnoxville, TN – Senior cornerback Kamal Hadden’s down finishing capture saved a well deserved, 38-33 triumph for No. 11/12 Tennessee football crew over No. 20/22 Florida and released an euphoric festival from a rat horde of 101,915 at Neyland Arena on Saturday night.
The Gators executed an onside kick in the wake of scoring a late score, recuperated at their own 47 with 16 seconds left, and immediately moved to the UT 37. With seven seconds remaining and quarterback Anthony Richardson looking around the end zone, senior Vols protective end Byron Youthful constrained him into a deviant pass endeavor that fell into the anticipating hands of Hadden as the clock was lapsing.
Tennessee opened a season 4-0 interestingly starting around 2016 and remains at 1-0 in SEC play. The Gators, in the mean time, dropped to 2-2 generally speaking and 0-2 in the association.
Redshirt senior quarterback Hendon Whore had a hair-raising presentation for the Enormous Orange, finishing 22 of 28 passes for a season-high 349 yards and two scores and hurrying 112 yards on 13 conveys for another score. It denoted the fifth round of Whore’s vocation with 300+ passing yards and the third with 100+ hurrying yards. His 461 complete yards was a lifelong best, and he ran his all out of TD passes as a Vol to 39 with just three captures.
With a one-yard score pass to redshirt junior wide beneficiary Bru McCoy in the subsequent quarter, Whore likewise expanded his dash of successive games with a TD throw to 16. Whore is pursuing Heath Shuler’s program record of 18 back to back games with a TD pass during a stretch from 1992-94. McCoy, in the mean time, completed the night with five gets for a vocation best 102 yards and a score.
UT running backs Jabari Little and Jaylen Wright scored surging scores, with Wright counting 90 yards on 19 endeavors. Little got three passes for 32 yards and another score.
Protectively, Hadden was a co-pioneer for the Vols in handles, tying redshirt-senior linebacker Jeremy Keeps money with seven. Youthful had four stops to oblige four quarterback hustles on a night in which his crew recorded 13.
The Big Orange offence did the right thing for their defensive unit by scoring after a turnover by Florida. The drive was started on the opening play when Hooker completed a 45-yard throw to a wide-open redshirt senior tight end Jacob Warren. After 10 plays, on third-and-goal from the Gator five, Wright rushed into the end zone to score for the Vols. With 7:55 remaining in the game, McGrath’s PAT gave his team a 38-21 lead.
On its following possession, Florida marched 75 yards in 10 plays to cut the deficit to 11 points. The Gators were down 38-27 with 4:49 to go when running back Montrell Johnson Jr. ran the ball around the left end from five yards out. However, the next two-point conversion throw attempt was unsuccessful.
The Vols offence drained the time down to 1:11 after recovering the subsequent onside kick at their own 49. With 17 seconds remaining, Florida capitalised when Richardson threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ricky Pearsall. Richardson threw an incomplete pass in an effort to score two points, but the Vols still led by a score of 38-33 with 17 seconds to play.
With 16 seconds remaining, Florida tried an onside kick again, which this time the Gators recovered at their own 47. Hadden, though, neutralised the danger three plays later with a game-winning interception.
THE TAKEAWAY
Florida: In order to have success in the remainder of their SEC games, the Gators will need to add a dimension to their offensive attack. Once defenses focus on containing Richardson in the pocket, the variables in the offense are limited. Richardson was able to avoid the pressure and has been sacked just twice this season.
Tennessee: Getting WR Cedric Tillman (leg) healthy is imperative if the Vols plan on competing against the elite in the SEC. Having that weapon available is key to giving LSU, Alabama and Kentucky something to game-plan against.
UT Football’s Up Next
Tennessee’s football team is off this coming weekend but will play again on Saturday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m. ET when they travel to take on LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.