Rapid Reaction: Tennessee demolishes ETSU with record-breaking day
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Tennessee rewrote its record books on Saturday during a 72-17 win over East Tennessee State.
The 22nd-ranked Volunteers set a modern-era program record for points in a game with the 72-point effort. The scoring explosion topped last year’s 71-point outing against Kent State. Tennessee also set modern-era program records for first downs (41) and passing first downs (25) in a game. The 38 combined completions also tied a modern-era program record.
Tennessee ran 100 plays, setting a single-game program record for plays in a regulation game. (UT ran 105 plays in the 2021 Music City Bowl that went to overtime.)
The Vols’ 717 yards of offense marked the fifth time in program history with 700 yards in a game. Four of those 5 have come under coach Josh Heupel.
Tennessee also topped 45 points for the second consecutive game to open the year. Tennessee scored 45-plus in its first 3 games last season, as well. Prior to that, Tennessee hadn’t opened a year with consecutive 45-point games since 2013.
The Vols punted only once on the day. They fumbled in the second quarter, too. Those were the only 2 possessions ETSU stopped all day. Tennessee scored touchdowns on 5 of its first 8 drives. After fumbling late in the second quarter, the Vols scored touchdowns on each of their next 3 possessions.
Quarterback Joey Aguilar continued his torrid start to the season, throwing for 288 yards with 2 touchdowns. Aguilar had 3 touchdown passes in the opener. He handed off to backup Jake Merklinger in the third quarter and Merklinger kept the offense rolling. He completed 9 of his 14 passes for 118 yards and 2 scores.
UT is back in action next Saturday when it hosts Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Tennessee 72, ETSU 17
Here’s the Tennessee-ETSU box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Joey Aguilar vs Cade McNamara
A statistical breakdown of how Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar fared against ETSU’s Cade McNamara:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
