By: Matt Laws (matt.laws@averyjournal.com)
Avery Journal-Times
The Tennessee Vols needed to get their season back on track, and Saturday night was the perfect place to start. The Volunteers held off a pesky Ohio Bobcat squad to take a 34-23 victory to snap a two game losing streak and build confidence entering next week’s game when Auburn comes to town.
“It's good to get a win,” Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin said. “We haven't won sin
ce the opener. We talked about it. You can't get to 3-2 or 4-2 until you get to 2-2. So it's good to see the win.”
Kiffin and the rest of coaching staff brought in a game plan where they looked to build the confidence of beleaguered quarterback Jonathon Crompton. The result wasn’t the game that Kiffin had hoped to see.
"We're a long ways away from being a championship team, as you saw today,” Kiffin said. “You saw a different game plan. You saw us try to throw it around, I think, 28 times in the first half and we got back to what we do and threw it, I think, eight times in the second half. We've got a long ways to go."
The Vols started the game with an impressive drive that was capped off when Montario Hardesty dived in from 11 yards out in the Wild Vol formation. However, the Bobcats evened it up 13 seconds later as Chris Garrett took the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
Crompton was intercepted on the next UT drive, and Ohio took advantage as Theo Scott found LaVon Brazil to take the early 14-7 lead.
The Vols got back on the board when Crompton hit Brandon Warren for a three yard pass, and when Chris Walker made an acrobatic interception on a screen play and ran seven yards into the end zone to give the Vols a 21-14 lead. Both squads added field goals in the closing minutes of the first half as UT took a 24-17 lead into the locker room.
Crompton found freshman sensation Bryce Brown for a 26-yard touchdown play that gave the Vols an 11 point lead entering the final fra
me.
The fourth quarter nearly saw the tables turn on UT as an Ohio touchdown off a Crompton fumble was wiped off the board after officials ruled that Noah Keller was out of bounds when he picked up the fumble. However, the Volunteers couldn’t take advantage as they were forced to punt.
The Bobcats managed to close the gap back to a one possession game halfway through the quarter, but that was as close as they could get as Daniel Lincoln added another field goal to secure the 34-23 victory.
Crompton ended the game with 17 of 34 passing for 222 yards and two touchdowns. The workhorse Hardesty had 140 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries while Brown added 56 yards on 11 carries plus the receiving touchdown.
Ohio ended the game with 319 passing yards on a Tennessee defense that is considered to be one of the best in the nation.
"We looked like a different defense today than what you're used to seeing.” Kiffin said. “We've got to make plays, it doesn't matter who's in there. There's no excuses. We've got to play better.
The victory didn’t come without a cost for the Vols however. Nick Reveiz was injured and most likely lost for the season adding to the injuries on the defensive side of the ball that saw Walker unable to p
lay in the second half along with LaMarcus Thompson, Herman Lathers, and Wes Brown being banged up.
“We're pretty beat up over there, but we've got to get better,” Kiffin said. “We've got to improve our depth. That's why we have competition so that our depth is improving and our backups aren't sitting there."
Dennis Rogan was also unable to go on Saturday, but not because of injury as he was suspended.
The Vols host undefeated Auburn in their SEC home opener on Saturday night.
