Tennessee’s matchup against Kentucky was much more than just another regular season game in Butch Jones’ eyes.
With the Volunteers two wins away from being bowl eligible, and only three games remaining in the season, UT’s second-year head coach declared Tennessee’s final set of games a three-game playoff series.
Following Saturday’s contest, the Vols now find themselves one game away from winning that series after cruising to a 50-16 victory over the Wildcats inside Neyland Stadium.
“It was huge to start off on the right foot,” sophomore quarterback Joshua Dobbs said. “It’s huge to get that fifth win. We’re one win away and we all know that, so we are definitely going to enjoy this fifth win, and get ready to get the sixth.
“We got two games to get to six — and potentially seven — so we just have to take it one game at a time.”
The Wildcats struck first with a 32-yard field goal by Austin MacGinnis on the opening drive of the game, but shortly after, the Vols responded with a 21-yard touchdown to junior wide receiver Von Pearson from Dobbs to cap off a five-play, 73-yard drive that lasted 1:21.
On the ensuing drive, the game’s complexion changed when Kentucky’s sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles was forced out of the game with an ankle injury.
With Towles out, the reigns of the Kentucky offense were handed to Reese Phillips, who had only thrown five passes coming into the game.
Tennessee’s defense capitalized on the signal caller’s inexperience, forcing him to go 0-for-4 passing, including a 23-yard pick-six by redshirt junior safety Brian Randolph that gave the Vols a 14-3 lead.
“(When he came out there) we kind of pinned our ears back more,” redshirt junior linebacker Curt Maggitt said.
By the time Towles could get back under center, it was too late, as the Vols had jumped out to a 21-3 lead and had all the momentum on their side.
But while Kentucky’s quarterback was forced to miss action, Dobbs did not miss a beat as Tennessee’s signal caller. The Alpharetta, Georgia, native followed up his 467-yard performance in the Vols’ 45-42 overtime victory at South Carolina with 297 yards and three touchdowns on 19-of-27 passing.
He also rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
“Josh is very intelligent man,” Jones said. “He adds another dynamic. He’s doing a great job of distributing the football and making decisions with the football.”
After going into halftime up 33-13, the Vols offense continued to click in the third quarter, adding 17 more points to the scoreboard before the bench was emptied to begin the fourth quarter.
In total, UT amassed 511 total yards, piggybacking off the 645-yard performance it had two weeks ago in Columbia against the Gamecocks.
“I feel that as an offense, we definitely played a full game of good football. We were able to take care of the football and move the ball very well tonight. We’re clicking on all cylinders, which is very good, and we’ll definitely need to keep this up.”
The Vols will look to extend their winning streak to three games and make themselves bowl eligible when they play host to the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 22.
“You enjoy this win, but you have to come back to work,” Jones said. “We have some challenges down the road. We have a talented football team coming in here next week. We just have to focus and not get ahead of ourselves. It was victory number five, and that is it. I am proud of our guys, but it is back to work tomorrow.”
