Furman’s head coach refused to give Tennessee credit for one of the Vols’ biggest plays in season-opening win over the Paladins
Tennessee cruised to a 56-9 win over Furman in the Vols’ season opener last weekend in Neyland Stadium.
The first explosive play of the Faizon Brandon era at Tennessee was a 55-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Mike Matthews in the third quarter of the Vols’ 56-9 win over Furman.
After the game, Matthews was asked how he got so wide open.
“It was really just off our play action and me just attacking the safety with speed,” said Matthews. “And him (the defender) just not understanding whether it’s going to be a run or a pass. He (the defender) usually just plays down into it. But just like in practice, I think we repped it two times and it played out the same way — it was the same result. So I was confident going into the play.”
“Just heavy play action right there to make the safety think it was a run,” added Brandon. “And then Mike just doing what he does outside and just letting him go make a play.”
Considering the play worked twice in practice against Tennessee’s defense, I’d say the play worked against Furman because of excellent execution by the Vols’ offense and because of a great play design by Josh Heupel and his offensive staff.
But that’s not how Furman’s head coach saw it.
Furman head coach doesn’t give Tennessee credit for Faizon Brandon’s first explosive play
Furman head coach Clay Hendrix said this week that giving up that touchdown had nothing to do with anything Tennessee did.
“We came out in the second half and we give up a crack and go because somebody doesn’t stay on their guy,” said Hendrix. “It didn’t have anything to do with what they did. It’s just what we didn’t do.”
I can understand that Hendrix feels like his guys should’ve defended that play better, but he’s gotta give the Vols some credit. Tennessee’s entire offense played that perfectly. Brandon sold the run play, read the safety well, and hit the layup to Matthews once he saw that the safety was coming up to play the run.
It was the same thing that happened in practice when Tennessee repped the play.
Again, great play design and great execution.
Sorry Furman, you got Faizon’d.
