On Saturday night in Neyland Stadium, things got out of hand very quickly. In route to a 71-0 victory, the Tennessee Volunteers (3-0) got off to a 37-0 first quarter lead over Kent State (0-3). By halftime, the lead had grown to 65-0. Nine possessions led to nine touchdowns. The Vols also added a safety in the first quarter. With the game already decided, Tennessee inserted backups across the board in the middle of the second quarter.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava exited the game after the Vols went up 51-0 in favor of redshirt senior Gaston Moore. Moore immediately led Tennessee to two more scoring drives to end the half. Iamaleava and Moore combined for 14-20 passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns in the half. Running backs Dylan Sampson and DeSean Bishop combined for 20 carries, 221 yards rushing, and six touchdowns during the first half onslaught. When the halftime score reached 65-0, Tennessee offered Kent State a running clock in the second half.
Kent State Declined the Tennessee Offer
With Tennessee already playing their second and third stringers to end the first half, the Vols offered a running clock to the Golden Flashes. Kent State head coach Kenni Burns declined the offer, stating that’s not who they are.
“That’s not who we are,” Kent State head coach Kenni Burns said postgame. “That’s now who we are as a football team. That’s not who we are as a culture. There are a lot of teams that lost today in lump sums; they’re not getting running clocks. A football game is a football game. I talked to our captains about it, and they said absolutely not. I said absolutely not. It’s just not who we are at all as a football program. No way.”
Tennessee Finished the Game in a Vanilla Effort
Tennessee went on to empty the bench in a very pedestrian second half in order to not totally embarrass the clearly outmatched and overpowered Kent State program. The Vols started the second half with third string freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger behind center. They also played Navy Shuler and Ryan Damron, as they only had three total drives in the half. The score only finished 71-0 after some speculated a potential triple digit effort was coming at halftime.
Next up, Tennessee travels to Norman, Oklahoma in what will be a much more competitive contest against the Sooners (3-0) to open up SEC play. The Vols have yet to be tested in the early season, and Oklahoma has struggled a bit out of the gate on their way to an unbeaten start. It has already been announced College Gameday will broadcast from the site next Saturday morning.
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