One unfortunate aspect of Tennessee's ugly win against Austin Peay that's flying under the radar
There were plenty of storylines that emerged from the Tennessee Vols' 30-13 win against Austin Peay on Saturday night. From Joe Milton's off night to multiple drops from receivers to a strange offensive game plan that featured more horizontal passes than vertical shots, there's no shortage of items to discuss after the less-than-stellar Tennessee win. […]
There were plenty of storylines that emerged from the Tennessee Vols' 30-13 win against Austin Peay on Saturday night.
From Joe Milton's off night to multiple drops from receivers to a strange offensive game plan that featured more horizontal passes than vertical shots, there's no shortage of items to discuss after the less-than-stellar Tennessee win.
There's also another unfortunate aspect of the game that's flying under the radar a bit.
Because the Vols were never able to pull away in the game, Tennessee didn't have the benefit of getting true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava into the game.
Iamaleava, who is the top backup to starter Joe Milton, was expected to receive a significant amount of snaps in garbage time against Austin Peay. Unfortunately, garbage time never came.
(There were some rumblings that Iamaleava was a bit banged up during the week, but it's unclear if that would've impacted his status on Saturday night…as it is, he never had the opportunity to enter the game.)
And that's massively disappointing for the Vols.
At some point this season, Iamaleava will need to play some important snaps for Tennessee. It almost happened on Saturday night when Milton stayed on the ground for a few extra seconds after taking what appeared to be a late hit from an Austin Peay defender (Milton said after the game that he's fine and there are no injury issues).
The game against Austin Peay would've been a perfect scenario for Iamaleava to see some game action.
Austin Peay was playing hard and aggressive all night. And they were having success at taking away the vertical shots, forcing the Vols to play more horizontally (Austin Peay runs an offense that has similarities to Tennessee with tempo, stacked receivers, etc..giving their defense a slight advantage against the Vols' offense).
The experience against an Austin Peay defense that was defending Tennessee well would've been incredibly beneficial for Iamaleava not just for this season, but for his development in general. Practice is obviously massively important, but there's no substitute for getting into an actual game and facing some adversity.
Tennessee's win against Austin Peay pushes the Vols' record to 2-0, but that's about the only good thing that came from this game. If there's a silver lining, it's that the tough offensive night might force Tennessee's offense to refocus ahead of a huge showdown with the Florida Gators in Gainesville on Saturday night.
dFeatured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
