The electric 3 play sequence from Tennessee's win against NC State that should get Vols fans fired up
The Tennessee Vols completely dominated the NC State Wolfpack in Charlotte last Saturday night, cruising to a 51-10 win in Bank of America Stadium. Tennessee led 20-3 coming out of the half. At that point, the game was very much in the Vols' favor, but NC State still had hopes of making the game close. […]
The Tennessee Vols completely dominated the NC State Wolfpack in Charlotte last Saturday night, cruising to a 51-10 win in Bank of America Stadium.
Tennessee led 20-3 coming out of the half. At that point, the game was very much in the Vols' favor, but NC State still had hopes of making the game close. The first drive of the second half was pivotal for Tennessee. If they wouldn't have scored, NC State would've had a chance to make it a 10 point game midway through the third quarter. At that point, the Vols would've had a game on their hands.
Instead, the Vols scored on that first drive of the second half, thanks to a three-play sequence in the red zone (an area where the Vols had trouble last season) that was electric.
With the ball at the 26 yard line, Tennessee faced a 4th-and-3 situation. After deciding to go for it, instead of kicking a field goal, Tennessee slowed down the tempo and used quarterback Nico Iamaleava's legs to pick up the first down. On the next play, the Vols once again leaned on Nico's legs to pick up a few yards (and after that play, we saw a perfect example of Nico's swagger/competitiveness when he mixed it up with an NC State defender).
After seemingly lulling NC State to sleep with several runs, the Vols broke out a perfect play design that resulted in Nico hitting tight end Miles Kitselman for an easy touchdown to put Tennessee up 27-3.
Here's the entire sequence.
The best part of that sequence might have been Josh Heupel's celebration after Kitselman's touchdown.
That drive showed that Tennessee can slow the tempo down near the red zone and pick up tough yards. It also showed that Heupel and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle are genius play designers. And, of course, it showed that Tennessee is playing with a lot of attitude and swagger — much like the Vols did in 2022.
This Tennessee team is dangerous. And they definitely have a chance to wreak some havoc in the post-season if they can be consistent in their approach from week to week.
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