With Halloween weekend lining up with a critical late-October Saturday in SEC football, there were no scares in store for Tennessee against Kentucky.
Just days before the College Football Playoff releases its first round of rankings, the No. 3 Vols looked the part of a playoff team for the eighth-straight week in their all black, “dark mode” uniforms.
It was sloppy at times, but those mistakes were overshadowed by big plays from quarterback Hendon Hooker, Jaylin Hyatt, an equally explosive run game and an opportunistic defense in Tennessee’s 44-6 win over the No. 19 Wildcats at Neyland Stadium on Saturday.
Hyatt became the second player for Tennessee (8-0, 4-0 SEC) to top a program record in as many weeks. He helped set the tone on the Vols’ opening drive by hauling in a Hooker pass for a 55-yard touchdown to tie former wideout Marcus Nash’s single season touchdown reception record (set in 1997) at 13. He then bested that record with his 14th touchdown catch of the season on a 31-yard pass and catch that put Tennessee up 27-6 at halftime.
Hyatt ended up with five catches for 138 yards, but he wasn’t the only highlight in a balanced performance from the offense. Running back Jabari Small racked up a game-high 78 yards and three scores, including a 13-yard touchdown catch while Jaylen Wright rushed for 73 more yards and a touchdown.
For the third-straight week, tight end Princeton Fant also made plays out of the Vols’ backfield, rushing for a 2-yard first quarter touchdown to extend the lead to 13-6.
Hooker, who finished 19-for-25 passing for 245 yards and three touchdowns, scored on an 8-yard keeper that put the Vols up 37-6 in the third quarter.
Kentucky (5-3, 2-3 SEC), which is built around a strong run game that produces time-consuming drives, had opportunities to capitalize on that approach early. It even worked on the Wildcats’ first drive which ended in a Chris Rodriguez Jr. touchdown run to pull within an extra point at 7-6, but the Vols created even more opportunities for themselves defensively.
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis entered the game with five interceptions thrown on the season. He tossed three into the hands of Tennessee defenders.
The first was hauled in by linebacker Juwan Mitchell after a Doneiko Slaughter hit forced the ball out of Kentucky receiver’s Dane Key’s grasp. It snuffed out a Kentucky drive inside the Tennessee 25.
Interceptions from Brandon Turnage and Slaughter resulted in 10 points for the Vols in the third quarter.
The secondary limited Levis to less than 100 yards passing and outside of some strong runs in the first half, held Kentucky running backs to 65 yards rushing.
Tennessee now turns its focus to an important SEC East matchup with No. 1 Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (CBS).
Noah Taylor, VolReport.com
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