London Vol
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GAME 2 – PITTSBURGH
Throughout my 13 years supporting the Vols our best years were 2015 and 2016, when we went 8-4 in the regular seasons. You may remember these totals, but can you remember who we beat during those seasons? I doubt it, maybe one or two teams. Can you remember how each game went, especially the matches that we won? Well, I certainly cannot, so this shows, in the scheme of things, that the most important thing about lasts night’s win away to the team ranked team No 17 in the country, is that we are now 2-0.
QUARTERBACKS
A strange night for Hendon Hooker despite figures of a 64% completion rate, 325 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. I believe he has had, and will have, better evenings. Again, there were a couple of passes that “sailed” on him, such as the one when he overthrew a wide-open Cedric Tillman, which would have been a certain touchdown. However, he did adjust with a beautiful pass for the Bru McCoy touchdown, as well as the game wining pass for Tillman, which turned out to be the match winning score in overtime. Encouragingly, he seems to be gaining some understanding with Jalin Hyatt, whilst those 8-yard passes are not flashy, they are great for extending drives if the running game has stalled.
RUNNING BACKS
A tough day for the Running Backs. Jaylen Wright (47 yards) had the best numbers but he coughed up what looked like a costly turnover near the end. I presume Jabari Small (17 yards) is unlikely to put this game on his draft resume. However, he did covert two touchdowns from the 1-yard line, which we have struggled to do in the past.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Similar to Hooker, Cedric Tillman (162 yards) looked to have had a career day, but he left other yards on the field, such as letting a 50-yard touchdown pass bounce of his facemask. Yet, his head did not drop and he adjusted brilliantly for the go-ahead TD in overtime. As I mentioned, it was a breakout day for Hyatt (11 catches for 73 yards), there is chemistry now between Hooker and him, so that is another piece of good news going forward this season. Lastly, I wish to mention Bru McCoy (4 catches for 56 yards), included in this was a catch and brilliant 1st down conversion late in the game. He has earned the right to have his number called more often.
TIGHT ENDS
Jacob Warren sold a lovely fake block and release for a 24-yard completion that looked a TD but was marked down at the 1. Unfortunately, Princeton Fant not only dropped a pass, but committed back-to-back penalties late on. We still need this department to step up this season.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Pittsburgh do have a rally strong front 7 and have had more sacks in the last three years than any other team in the country, so this was always going to be a test. Overall, I thought the O Line competed well. Hooker was mostly kept clean in pocket - 3 sacks and 1 Quarterback hit, and those were because Hooker was checking down too long. However, disappointingly, there were not many holes created for our anaemic running game.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Now I understand all the hints during fall practice that this defense is much better this season. We saw it last night. The D Line got penetration time after time and the most impressive fact is that we hit the QB 16 times. That is a colossal total and the repercussions of this were that Slovis never appeared in the second half and his replacement Patti was less stable than Bambi. Byron Young (4 tackles, 1 Sack, 2 TFLs and 3 QB hits) and Tyler Baron (1 Sack, 2 TFLs, a Forced Fumble and a QB hit) in particular, were rampant all night. I also saw a big No 21 (Omari Thomas) filling up my TV screen time after time. Kudos to Tim Banks for the game plan and for coaching up these players. One final note, despite getting to the opposing Quarterback so many times, there were no “roughing the passer“ flags, this is also down to the quality coaching behind the scenes
LINEBACKERS
For the second week running Aaron Beasley was the star of this department (14 tackles, 1 TFL and 3 QB hits). Perhaps we will not miss Juwan Michell this season after all. Jeremy Banks was also around the ball often, although his stats of 3 tackles and 2 QD hits do not reflect this in full.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Like Beasley, Kamal Hadden, had another huge performance and is by far our best Cornerback. It is time for him to be left “on an island” and give Warren Burrell some much needed help. I have already mentioned Flowers but Tank McCullough also shone and Wesley Walker made some very timely plays. So, with Tamarion McDonald, we do have some depth at last in the backfield.
CHASE MCGRATH
Chase, you get you own heading because that 51-yard field goal was clutch. It changed how Pitts’ last drive in regular time was viewed, as a touchdown would have won it for them.
I always enjoy your comments and observations.
GO VOLS
