Hendon Hooker had a regular day at the office in Tennessee’s 65-24 win against UT Martin on Saturday. The Heisman Trophy contender completed 18 of his 24 passes on the afternoon for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns.

In just a little than a quarter and a half.

Josh Heupel was not going to play Hooker more than he had to in Tennessee’s 41-point shellacking of the Skyhawks. That’s fine, Joe Milton and … Princeton Fant are more than capable of throwing a few touchdown balls in his stead. More on that later.

Tennessee totaled a whopping 696 total yards of offense and 9 touchdowns to improve to 7-0 on the season. Sure, it was Homecoming against UT Martin, but the yardage total is still Tennessee’s highest of the season.

And Hooker, in just a few quarters, strengthened an already impressive Heisman résumé Saturday, breaking a handful of records along the way. He set a Tennessee mark for touchdowns thrown in consecutive games with 19.  Everyone knew No. 19 was coming when he tied the record last week against Alabama.

It was pretty impressive, too. He threaded the needle to Ramel Keyton for the first of the receiver’s 2 touchdowns on the afternoon.

Hooker now has thrown for multiple scores in 10 consecutive games after his 3-touchdown effort Saturday.

There’s plenty of football to be played. But it seems as if there’s little debate in the present: The Heisman Trophy should be Hendon Hooker’s to lose.

Of course, Hooker may have to look out for another candidate that is quickly rising the ranks – Jalin Hyatt.

“Absurd” is the best way to describe Hyatt in these past few weeks. He snagged 7 receptions for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday. For the past 8 quarters (really 6 considering he didn’t play in the second half against UT Martin,) Hyatt has 13 receptions for 381 yards and 7 touchdowns.

That’s 1st-round talent. As of Week 8, Hyatt’s 12 touchdowns on the year are the most of any receiver in the nation.

As Hooker broke a record Saturday, Hyatt came within 1 touchdown of tying another. The Tennessee record for most TD receptions in a season is 13, set by Marcus Nash in 1997. Remember: Hyatt is one shy of that total in 6 fewer games.

Hyatt is also the first receiver since Nash to catch multiple touchdown passes in 3 consecutive games. So, it seems Tennessee was right to rest Cedric Tillman on Saturday.

As far as records go, that’s just the beginning. Tennessee Stats and Info, the Vols’ official stats Twitter account, sent out this update with just more than 7 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter.

The Vols ended up with 52 points in the first half, the most since 1929 when Tennessee scored 53 against Carson-Newman.

The 1st touchdown pass of Fant’s career put Tennessee in that spot at the break. The senior tight end has 3 rushing touchdowns and now a passing touchdown on the season, but has not yet caught a pass for a score. Just as everyone expected.

Take a guess who was on the receiving end of Fant’s long throw at the end of the second half?

Mercifully, the Vols eased off in quarters 3 and 4. UT Martin found the scoreboard a few more times, but Tennessee was playing 4th-stringers 8 minutes into the 3rd quarter.

Tennessee’s 351 points through Week 7 are more than the Vols scored in entire seasons in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2013. They are on track to shatter the school record for points in a single season – 511 last season in Heupel’s first year.

The Vols enter their game against Kentucky on some kind of roll. Neyland Stadium is likely to be sold out for the 5th time in a row. Tennessee’s 4th straight sellout against UT Martin was the most consecutive sellouts since 2007. Quick reminder: Tennessee went to the SEC Championship game that season.

Wins against Kentucky and Georgia likely would punch their ticket back to Atlanta.