After beating Missouri, Jeremy Pruitt says Tennessee ‘looking forward’ to matching up with Georgia
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After an inconsistent performance to start the season, Tennessee came out strong and finished that way on Saturday in the home opener against Missouri, beating the Tigers by a commanding 35-12 margin.
Tennessee is now 2-0 on the season with a trip to Georgia on the schedule for next weekend.
With Cade Mays in uniform for the first time as Volunteer, Tennessee’s offensive line dominated the matchup against Missouri’s defensive front as the Vols registered 232 rushing yards and 422 total offensive yards.
Eric Gray had 105 rushing yards while Ty Chandler had 90 rushing yards. Both players scored rushing touchdowns. Jarrett Guarantano scored three touchdowns in the game, two rushing and one passing.
Pruitt on the OL’s performance:
“Well, we obviously done some things pretty well upfront to be able to do that, these guys stack the box. But again, we’ve got to finish some guys off a little better and sustained drives.”
Tennessee was 4-for-4 on fourth downs against Missouri.
Pruitt on going for so many fourth downs:
“You know, and as far as going forward on fourth down, it’s got to be a mindset, you know? I’ve talked to our team about it, we’re not living in fear. All these guys came here with all the unknown, we didn’t know what to expect with this virus and there wasn’t nothing that happened in the past to draw upon. So we’re sure not going to play in fear or coach in fear.”
Pruitt on if Tennessee is ready for a team of Georgia’s caliber:
“Yeah, absolutely. You know, the last two years we’ve played them, they’ve had a really good football team, I’m sure that — I’ve not even watched them — but I’m sure they’ll have a really good football team this year. I mean, they’ve got good players, they’ve got good coaches, but we do too.
“That’s why I came to Tennessee, that’s why these players came to Tennessee, to play in games like this, we’re looking forward to it.”
Tennessee plays at Georgia next weekend.
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
