Vols Beat Huskies 13-9

The optimist in me kept waiting for the Vol offense to explode tonight against Northern Illinois, but the explosion never came. Every time it looked as if the Vol offense would get something going, it quickly came to and abrupt end. A fumble on the first drive stopped a promising possession, and then an illegal man downfield penalty ended a short drive that began with an Eric Berry Interception. Other than a 52 yard touchdown pass from Nick Stephens to Denarius Moore, there really isn’t much to write about.  

The good news is that Nick Stephens looked poised from the opening play, and looked to have excellent field vision. Stephens finished the night 11-18 passing for 158 yards and one touchdown. His play does offer hope, but the problems that plague this offense run much deeper than just quarterback play.

The receivers are still having trouble beating press coverage, and the offensive line has not been able to pass protect adequately. The much publicized and veteran offensive line just isn’t getting the job done this year.

Northern Illinois sacked Stephens three times and all three were a result of the sophomore quarterback standing in the pocket trying to find somebody open.  A good running game would have assisted Stephens tonight, but the Vols could muster only 69 yards rushing on 32 carries.

The Vols leading rusher was Arian Foster who netted 75 yards on 18 carries but the lost yardage on sacks that count against the running game totals left Tennessee with a rushing average of 2.15 yards per carry.  

The defense again came to the rescue as the Vol D only surrendered 198 yards total offense. The defense did have trouble getting off the field however as NIU amassed 33:11 time of possession, but stopped the Huskies shy of the end zone on four different possessions. NIU connected on three field goals and missed one. The Huskies never made it past their own 31 yard line the entire 4^th quarter.  

The Good:
Nick Stephens showed that he has a good grasp of the offense and looked confident in what he was doing. Stephens managed the offense much better than Jonathan Crompton, and made few errors.  

Eric Berry was the lone bright spot in the secondary tonight. The Vol secondary did not have a good night, but Berry did. His interception and 48 yard return in the second quarter set up a field goal by Daniel Lincoln that tied the game at 3-3 with 6:50 remaining in the second quarter.  

Denarius Moore flashed his speed in the second half on two long pass plays for the Vols, one for a touchdown.

Nick Reveiz started his first game for the Vols tonight due to the injury to Ellix Wilson and rewarded the coaches by leading Tennessee in tackles with 9 total hits and 1.5 sacks.  

The Bad:

Offensive line play was below average. The big boys up front were not able to sustain any kind of a push to establish a running game, made costly penalties, and did not protect Nick Stephens when he tried to go through his progressions downfield.  

Daniel Lincoln missed another field goal tonight from short distance.  

Wide receivers were a no show with the exception of Denarius Moore. Brandon Warren and Gerald Jones both dropped a pass, and the wide outs did not get open enough against a team that does not have the caliber of athletes that is seen weekly in the SEC.