UT at VU Postgame Notes

Nov. 27, 2016

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POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Vanderbilt topped No. 24/24 Tennessee in an offensive slugfest on Saturday, handing the Volunteers a 45-34 loss at Vanderbilt Stadium.
Tennessee moved to an all-time record of 828-375-53, which stood in ninth place (in terms of win percentage) among FBS programs entering Saturday’s game. The Volunteers finished the 2016 regular season 8-4 with a 4-4 SEC record.
Butch Jones now owns a 29-21 in his fourth year at Tennessee and is 79-48 in his 10th season overall.
Tennessee is now 11-5 in games played in November under Butch Jones, with Saturday’s loss snapping an eight-game win streak in the month.
The Vols are 15-2 all-time in games televised on SEC Network.
Tonight’s attendance at Vanderbilt Stadium: 38,108

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 won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
Tennessee is now 6-8 in coin tosses this season, including 6-6 pregame and 0-2 in overtime.

Vols-Commodores Notes

This marked the 110th all-time meeting between Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the second-most meetings in any UT series behind 112 games vs. Kentucky. In the series, UT moves to a 75-30-5 all-time advantage and has won 31 of the last 35 games vs. the Commodores.
Tennessee is now 37-20-4 against Vanderbilt all-time in games played in Nashville.
Since 1983, Tennessee is 15-2 vs. the Commodores in Nashville with the two losses coming in 2016 and 2012.

Tennessee Lineup News

Tennessee started its 10th different secondary lineup of the year vs. Vanderbilt.
Sophomore Stephen Griffin made his first career start at safety alongside Micah Abernathy.
Redshirt senior made his second start of the year at SAM linebacker, joining Colton Jumper and Cortez McDowell in UT’s 4-3 defensive unit to start the game.

Offensive Highlights

Tennessee’s offense combined for 516 total yards offense in the 45-34 loss to Vanderbilt, and averaged 549 total offensive yards over its last four games of the season (14 rushing, 11 passing).
The Volunteers complete 2016 regular season play with 58 total touchdowns, the most for the program since UT scored 62 touchdowns in 1993.
The Vols scored on their opening drive for the third time this season, also their first opening drive score in SEC play this year.
UT scored touchdowns on its first two possessions for only the second time this season (also, vs. Tennessee Tech).
With a 31-24 edge on Vandy at halftime, the Vols scored at least 21 points in the first half over four straight games since Nov. 5.
Senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs finished the night 31-of-34 for 340 yards passing with two touchdowns, as well as 53 yards rushing on 13 attempts. His 31 pass completions established a single-game career high.
Dobbs tied his career-high consecutive completions, going 11-of-11 to start the game vs. Vanderbilt (also, vs. Tennessee Tech).
With 393 total offensive yards vs. the Commodores, Dobbs (3,368) became just the fourth player in school history to record at least 3,000 total yards in a season, joining Peyton Manning, Tyler Bray and Erik Ainge. He surpassed Peyton Manning (3,156 in 1996) for the fourth-most total yards in a season in UT history.
With 53 rushing yards vs. Vanderbilt, Dobbs surpassed his own school record (671 in 2015) for most rushing yards by a QB in school history with 713.
Entering the game with a single-season career-high 2,315 passing yards, Dobbs moved to 2,655 passing yards and established the most by a UT quarterback since 2012 (Tyler Bray – 3,612).
In 2016, Dobbs accounted for 36 of the Vols’ 58 touchdowns through 12 games (26 passing, nine rushing and one receiving). He accounted for 83 touchdowns over the course of his career, trailing on Peyton Manning (101) in UT history.
Alvin Kamara rushed for two touchdowns vs. Vanderbilt, marking his fifth straight game to score at least one rushing TD for the Vols. He now has a career-best nine rushing scores in 2016. He also has multiple rushing touchdowns in three straight games.
With less than one minute remaining in the first half, Josh Malone hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Dobbs to put the Vols ahead, 31-24. By doing so, his 10 TDs this year are the most since 2006 (Robert Meachem) and tie for the fifth-most in school history for a single season. Malone now has a touchdown in four consecutive games.
With 121 receiving yards vs. Vanderbilt, Malone recorded his third-career 100-yard game.
UT furthered its streak to 27 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 284 straight games, which stood as the fourth-longest active streak in the NCAA entering the game against Missouri.

Defensively Speaking

With a sack against Vanderbilt’s Kyle Shurmur to end the first half, Derek Barnett recorded season sack No. 12 and career sack No. 32, tying UT career-sack leader Reggie White (1980-83). He has at least 10 sacks in each of his three seasons at UT, with 29 of his 32 career sacks having come in SEC play.
Barnett now has sacks recorded in nine-straight SEC games.
Barnett’s 12.0 sacks in 2016 are a single-season career high and each of his 12.0 sacks this year have come in SEC play. His 12.0 sacks also tied for the third-most in a single season in school history alongside John Henderson during the 2000 season.
Barnett entered Saturday’s game with 50.0 career tackles for loss, including 17.0 this season. With 1.0 TFL vs. Vanderbilt, he tied Reggie White (51.0) for the second-most TFLs in school history.
Barnett stands as the only player in SEC history to record 10-or-more sacks in three consecutive seasons (2014-16).
Safety Micah Abernathy led the Volunteers defense for the third consecutive game with eight total tackles.
Following a fumble by UT’s John Kelly to give Vandy possession on its own 17-yard line, Micah Abernathy intercepted a pass from VU’s Kyle Shurmur. The grab marked his second of the season.
Tennessee’s defense has an interception in four straight games dating back to Tennessee Tech (Nov. 5).

Special Teams

Tyler Byrd ran for a 67-yard kickoff return in the second quarter, a career-high return for the freshman.
Aaron Medley was 4-of-4 on PATs against Vanderbilt. He is now 56-of-56 this season and 153-of-154 for his career.
Medley was 2-for-3 on field goal attempts against the Commodores including a 41-yarder, moving to 10-of-15 in 2016 and 51-of-72 over his career with the Volunteers.
Trevor Daniel averaged 39.0 yards on two punts. He now has 41 career punts of 50-or-more yards, including 19 this year.

Upon Further Review

Originally ruled a rush with no gain at the UT 44-yard line on fourth down by Vanderbilt’s Ralph Webb, the ruling on the field was confirmed to make it a Tennessee first down. (UPHELD)
A 27-yard touchdown catch by Josh Malone in the second quarter was overturned following review. Malone’s reception was marked down at the half-yard line. (REVERSED)
Ruled a 12-yard rush by Alvin Kamara in the third quarter, the call on the field was upheld to give Tennessee a first down at the Vandy 37-yard line. (UPHELD)
Upon further review, a three-yard rush by UT’s Joshua Dobbs was ruled a fumble, recovered by Vanderbilt for possession at the 50-yard line to begin the fourth quarter. (REVERSED)
Reviews this season confirmed (20) and overturned (15).
Reviews this season favoring Tennessee (15) and favoring opponents (20).

University of Tennessee Athletics

POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Vol Captains/Coin Toss

Vols-Commodores Notes

Tennessee Lineup News

Offensive Highlights

Defensively Speaking

Special Teams

Upon Further Review

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