UT vs. UK Postgame Notes

Nov. 12, 2016

Recap |  Box Score |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery 

POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Tennessee improved to an all-time record of 827-374-53, which stood in ninth place (in terms of win percentage) among FBS programs entering Saturday’s game.
The Vols are now 459-124-17 in their 95th season at Neyland Stadium.
Butch Jones raised his record to 28-20 in his fourth year at Tennessee and is 78-47 in his 10th season overall.
The 7-3 start is the best start for the program through its first 10 games since 2007.
UT improved to 15-1 in games televised by the SEC Network.
Tennessee is now 10-4 in games played in November under Butch Jones, including six straight wins in the month.
With a 49-36 win over the Wildcats, Tennessee scored 40-or-more points in consecutive games, marking the school’s fourth time to score 40-plus points in back-to-back games under Butch Jones.
Today’s attendance at Neyland Stadium: 101,075.

Vol Captains/Coin Toss

Head coach Butch Jones announced Tennessee’s full-season captains at halftime of the 2016 DISH Orange & White Game. The appointed leaders are senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs, redshirt junior tailback Alvin Kamara, senior defensive back Cameron Sutton and senior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
The Vols have not had full-season designees since 2011, with captains named on a game-by-game basis from 2012-15.
Tennessee Tech won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
Tennessee is now 5-7 in coin tosses this season, including 5-5 pregame and 0-2 in overtime.

Pregame Notes

Prior to Saturday’s game, seat No. 8 of the Tom Elam Press Box at Neyland Stadium was dedicated to Knoxville native and Tennessee sports journalism legend Ben Byrd.
After returning home from Naval service in World War II in 1947, the D-Day veteran embarked on a 45-year career as a sportswriter for the Knoxville Journal. He was among the first area sportswriters to cross over into TV and radio. A five-time “Tennessee Sportswriter of the Year,” Byrd authored three books and was inducted into the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Ben Byrd passed away in September at the age of 91. In attendance to place a memorial seat placard—only the sixth to be dedicated in Tom Elam Press Box—at Seat No. 8 was Byrd’s daughter, Kathy.
Leading the Vol Walk for Tennessee on Saturday was Brandon Pendergrass, who honorably served in the United States Marine Corps from 2010-13 as an infantryman. Pendergrass specialized as a rifleman and machine gunner. He did one deployment in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan where he was injured in combat by an improvised explosive device (IED). In 2013, he retired due to his injuries and returned to Tennessee, ultimately receiving a degree in psychology from UT. He is a recipient of the military’s Purple Heart medal.

Vols-Wildcats Notes

This marked the 112th all-time meeting between Tennessee and Kentucky, with the Vols moving to a 79-24-9 record. UT’s 79 wins against the ‘Cats are its most against any school.
The Vols have won five straight in the series and now won 31 of its last 32 meetings with Kentucky.
Tennessee is now 42-10-6 against Kentucky in games played in Knoxville.
With the win, quarterback Joshua Dobbs finishes his UT career going 4-0 against Kentucky with 16 career touchdowns.

Tennessee Lineup News

Tennessee started its sixth different offensive line combination this season, with Drew Richmond at left tackle, Jashon Robertson at left guard, Dylan Wiesman at center, Coleman Thomas at right guard and Brett Kendrick at right tackle.
Jason Croom and Ethan Wolf started as part of a two tight end offense for the Vols for the first time since Tennessee’s 38-28 win over Florida (Sept. 24).
Running back Alvin Kamara made his first start since Oct. 15 vs. Alabama.
Defensively, senior cornerback Cameron Sutton returned to action and made his first start since Sept. 17 vs. Ohio.

Offensive Highlights

UT’s offense jumped out to a 14-10 lead over Kentucky in the first quarter, marking the first time for the Vols to lead in the first quarter of SEC play this season. Prior to Saturday’s game vs. UK, Tennessee had scored only two touchdowns in the first quarter over five SEC games.
The Volunteers came up just six yards short of having three players rush for 100 yards for the first time since 1991: Joshua Dobbs (147), Alvin Kamara (128) and John Kelly (96).
As a team, the Vols put together a season-high 376 rushing yards, surpassing their previous high of 282 yards rushing against Texas A&M.
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs finished the day 11-of-17 for 223 yards passing with three touchdowns. He also rushed for 147 yards on 14 carries, including a 41-yard rush in the first quarter and a 45-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter against Kentucky. The 45-yard rush marked the second longest of Dobbs’ career for the Big Orange.
With 147 yards rushing, Dobbs recorded the fifth 100-yard rushing game of his career.
With 370 total yards (147 rushing, 223 passing), Dobbs became only the fourth player in school history with at least 8,000 yards of total offense in his career. The feat also now puts him in the company of Peyton Manning, Erik Ainge and Casey Clausen as the only QBs in UT history with at least 2,500 yards of total offense in two different seasons.
Dobbs connected with wide receiver Josh Smith for a 24-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, evening the score with the Wildcats at 7-7.
Dobbs’ one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the 26th rushing TD of his career, breaking a tie with VFL Jimmy Streater for the most ever by a UT quarterback in school history.
Freshman Tyler Byrd hauled in a pass from Dobbs for a 44-yard gain, marking his longest career reception.
Tight end Ethan Wolf made the catch on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dobbs to help further UT’s lead to 21-13 in the second quarter, his second TD reception of the year.
In the third quarter, Dobbs completed a 51-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone. After the snap and handoff to John Kelly, Kelly flipped the ball back to Dobbs, who remained in the pocket to complete the deep throw to Malone in double coverage.
Alvin Kamara rushed for a 17-yard touchdown in the third quarter, his fourth rushing TD of the season, and followed up with a 29-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He finished his first start back from injury with 128 yards rushing on 10 carries.
UT furthered its streak to 25 consecutive games with a rushing TD, dating to 2014. The streak now stands as a school record for most consecutive games with a rushing score, surpassing a previous high streak of 24 games from the 1937-39 seasons.
The Vols have now scored in 282 straight games, which stood as the fourth-longest active streak in the NCAA entering the game against Tennessee Tech.

Defensively Speaking

Defensive back Micah Abernathy led the Vols’ defense today with 10 total tackles, including nine solo tackles.
In the fourth quarter, Derek Barnett recorded season sack No. 10 against UK’s Stephen Johnson, as well as the 30th sack of his career. By doing so, Barnett now needs just 2.0 sacks to tie Tennessee career sacks leader Reggie White (32). He now has at least 10 sacks in each of his three seasons for UT, while 27 of his 30 career sacks have come in SEC play.
With two pass breakups against Kentucky, senior Cameron Sutton surpassed VFL Jabari Greer (35, 2000-03) with 36 career passes defended for Tennessee.
Defensive end Corey Vereen brought down Kentucky QB Stephen Johnson twice and was credited with two sacks, recording his fifth and sixth sack of the year and the 11th and 12th sack of his career. Today marked his first multi-sack game since he had two at Alabama on Oct. 24, 2015.
Jauan Jennings recorded his first career interception against Kentucky’s QB Johnson with less than six seconds remaining in the first half, helping secure Tennessee’s 21-13 halftime lead.
Defensive end LaTroy Lewis recovered a Kentucky fumble caused by teammate Stephen Griffin and following review, gave Tennessee possession at its own 19-yard line in the third quarter. The fumble recovery was the first of Lewis’s career at UT.

Special Teams

Aaron Medley was 7-of-7 on PATs against Kentucky. He is now 43-of-43 this season and 140-of-141 for his career.
Trevor Daniel averaged 48.8 yards on four punts, booming one 56 yards. He now has 39 punts of 50-or-more yards, including 18 this year.

Upon Further Review

Originally ruled short of the goal line, a 35-yard run by UT’s Joshua Dobbs was reviewed and the ruling stood, giving Tennessee the ball at UK’s one-yard line. (UPHELD)
A John Kelly rush for no gain was confirmed and the ruling on the field stood in the first quarter. (UPHELD)
Ruled an incomplete pass from Kentucky’s Stephen Johnson to Blake Bone, the call was overturned and changed to a complete pass at the 14-yard line, good for a 37-yard completion. (REVERSED)
Originally ruled a fumble recovery by Tennessee in UT territory, the call was confirmed to give the Vols possession at their own 19-yard line. (UPHELD)
Reviews this season confirmed (16) and overturned (13).
Reviews this season favoring Tennessee (11) and favoring opponents (18).

University of Tennessee Athletics

POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Vol Captains/Coin Toss

Pregame Notes

Vols-Wildcats Notes

Tennessee Lineup News

Offensive Highlights

Defensively Speaking

Special Teams

Upon Further Review

Related Videos