Tennessee stopped its embarrassing losing streak Saturday night by beating Southern Miss 24-10 in Neyland Stadium. The Vols dominated much of the game, giving up a late touchdown to the Eagles to make things look more respectable.
Considering starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano did not play the entire second half, due to injury, and true freshman Will McBride was forced into action for the first time in his collegiate career, the offense put up good numbers all things considered.
Immediately after the game, Butch Jones expressed some emotion when thinking of his players.
“I’m excited for our kids to get back on the winning track,” Jones said. “Obviously, we have a great challenge going on the road next week (at Missouri) but it’s been a long time coming. They’ve been working exceptionally hard and it’s great to get a victory.”
Here’s what the Tennessee coach had to say regarding his QBs. Despite only playing in the first half, Guarantano had an impressive showing, completing nine of 13 passes for 102 yards and not turning the ball over. McBride was one of eight for 13 yards. He added seven yards on the ground, although his total was hurt by sacks.
“Well again, we have three quarterbacks and obviously we like to involve them in the run game, sometimes, due to different circumstances we can,” he said. “Jarrett has shown great grit the entire year and then what can you say about Will McBride? He goes from No. 3 to No. 2 to playing tonight.”
The embattled coach ended his comments with this note:
“We have to continue to fix our mistakes and move forward. This football team continues to show up and show great resolve and resiliency with anything and everything that can happen in a football season, they’ve experienced it. I’m excited for them tonight but we have three big games left.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
