NEED TO KNOW
Vols on Homecoming
Following two straight road games, the Vols return to Neyland Stadium on Saturday for Homecoming. It will be UT's first home game in 28 days. The contest will mark Tennessee's fourth consecutive game against a top 20 opponent and kicks off a three-game homestand to close the regular season.
The Big Orange are 74-19-3 all-time and have posted six straight wins on Homecoming. This will be Tennessee's first Homecoming game vs. an SEC foe since facing Auburn in 2013.
Hendo Cinco
Redshirt senior quarterback Hendon Hooker has been nothing short of spectacular for the Vols in his first season on Rocky Top, leading a high-powered offense that ranks among the top 25 nationally in points per game (15th – 38.2), total offense (21st – 457.7) and rushing offense (18th – 217.1).
The Greensboro, North Carolina, native ranks fourth in the FBS with a 190.01 QB passer efficiency rating, which is on pace to shatter the previous program record of 163.00 held by Darryl Dickey (1985). For the year, Hooker is completing 69.3 percent of his passes – which is also on pace to be a new program single-season record – and has thrown for 1,894 yards and 21 touchdown passes with just two interceptions. With a career-high four touchdown passes in UT's road win at No. 18 Kentucky last Saturday, Hooker passed Peyton Manning's 1996 season of 20 TD passes for 10th on the program's single-season list.
Hooker has accounted for multiple touchdowns in eight consecutive games entering this weekend's showdown with No. 1 Georgia and has thrown four touchdown passes of 70-plus yards this season, which is tied for the most in the country. His 21 total touchdown passes are a career high, surpassing his previous best of 13 while at Virginia Tech in 2019. Hooker was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award earlier this week, becoming the Vols' first semifinalist since Erik Ainge in 2006.
Quick Strike Offense/Big Plays
Of Tennessee's 51 offensive scoring drives this season, 28 have taken less than two minutes and 15 have been under a minute. Over the past two games, seven of the Vols' 10 offensive scoring drives have lasted less than a minute.
UT ranks tops in the SEC in 60-yard offensive plays (5) and 70-yard offensive plays (5). The Vols are tied for the national lead in 70-yard offensive plays along with Army and Nebraska. Tennessee is also tied with Louisville for the national lead in 70-yard pass completions (4). The Big Orange have already hit on 13 offensive plays of 40 or more yards from scrimmage this season, which ranks third in the SEC. By comparison, the Vols had only three the entire 2020 season (10 games).
Explosive WR Trio
Tennessee is the only team in the SEC that has three players with at least five touchdown receptions this season. The wide receiver trio of JaVonta Payton (6), Velus Jones Jr. (5) and Cedric Tillman (5) have combined for 16 of the Vols' 22 receiving touchdowns this year.
