OXFORD, Miss. – For the first 19 minutes of Saturday’s contest, Tennessee’s defense seemed poised to carry the Volunteers to an upset victory over No. 3 Ole Miss.
Then, the Vols finally slipped.
After only allowing the Rebels to gain 37 yards on their first seven drives, the Vols gave up back-to-back catches to Vince Sanders, the latter being a 39-yard touchdown to give Ole Miss a 7-3 lead.
From there, the Tennessee offense could never muster a response, and the Rebels strolled to a 34-3 victory inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“It’s a game of momentum swings,” head coach Butch Jones said. “We have to help our defense out – I have said this continually. I think we have some young men that are pressing right now and trying to play perfectly. That is not a world you want to live in. You want to play aggressively and not worry about making mistakes.”
The Vols, however, never got the momentum to swing back their way.
Shortly after Sanders found the end zone, Justin Worley threw an interception to Senquez Golson, allowing the Rebels to score another touchdown – a 7-yard run by Jaylen Walton – to give themselves a 14-3 lead heading into halftime.
And after Gary Wunderlich made a 34-yard field goal to give the Rebels a 17-3 lead late in the third quarter, freshman Evan Berry’s fumble on the ensuing kickoff proved to be the final blow to the Vols, who would allow a 28-yard pass to Evan Engram from Bo Wallace on the next play from scrimmage.
In total, Tennessee turned the ball over four times, three of which were interceptions from senior quarterback Justin Worley.
Turnovers, however, aren’t the only things that will haunt the Vols when they look back at this contest.
Through the majority of the first half, UT controlled the field position battle, forcing Ole Miss to an average starting position on the 17-yard line through their first seven drives.
In those drives, UT’s defense held the Rebels to just 37 yards and forced six three-and-outs, giving the Vols a shorter field to drive numerous times.
Unfortunately, all Tennessee could put together was a single field goal, marking the second consecutive SEC game that it has failed to score a touchdown.
“That always hurts,” Worley said. “We had a short field several times, and we couldn’t do much with it. We have to do a better job of capitalizing. We knew this was going to be a game of field position. They gave it to us early, and we couldn’t do anything with it.”
The reason for Tennessee’s ineptitude, once again, stemmed from the offensive line’s inability to keep Ole Miss’ front seven at bay.
Not only was Justin Worley sacked seven times, but the Vols were also held to zero yards rushing in the contest.
The instability forced Jones to rotate new offensive lineman in and out of the lineup, especially after starters Coleman Thomas and Marcus Jackson went out with injuries.
“We were trying to get the best five out there,” Jones said.
During that rotation of offensive lineman, redshirt senior Jacob Gilliam returned to action after tearing his ACL against Utah State in the season opener.
“It’s a tribute to Jacob and him working his way back,” Jones said. “I’m indebted to him for his leadership and his passion to be out there. I think that speaks volumes about him.”
The Vols will look to snap their eight-game losing streak to SEC West opponents when they host Alabama on Oct. 25 at either 7:15 or 7:30 p.m.
