No.15 UT Stays All Business in 42-9 Win, Turns Full National Attention to No. 1 Texas
No. 15 Tennessee handled business against Kennesaw State, earning a 42-9 victory to improve to 3-0. Now, the Vols turn their attention to a highly anticipated SEC opener against No. 1 Texas in a Checker Neyland showdown.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- Business was handled last night. No. 15 Tennessee shook off any hint of a trap game, pulling away from Kennesaw State 42-9 at home in a performance that mixed in four quarters of sustained control on both sides of the ball.
First Quarter:
Tennessee wasted little time setting the tone. Quarterback Faizon Brandon, in his third career start, hit Braylon Staley for 35 yards to set up a short touchdown run by DeSean Bishop, then found Staley again for a 13-yard score on the ensuing possession. It was a drive capped by a successful two-point conversion from TE Luca Wolf that pushed the lead to 15-0. Kennesaw State answered with a lengthy 13-play field-goal drive.The Owls came away with only three points despite eating more than seven minutes off the clock.
Second Quarter:
Tennessee’s offense had some minor issues. The Owls’ defense forced two turnovers. A Rickie Collins fumble and a strip-sack by linebacker Kai Russell kept the Vols tacked on two Cooper Ranvier field goals (40 and 43 yards) to take a 21-3 lead into the break. Kennesaw State’s only real answer was ball control; the Owls out-possessed Tennessee for stretches of the half but couldn’t finish drives inside Tennessee territory.
Third Quarter:
This is where the game turned decisively. Faizon Brandon came out confident and developed a strong presence under center. Daune Morris broke a 42-yard touchdown run on Tennessee’s first snap of the second half, and the Vols added another score minutes later on a Brandon rushing touchdown, pushing the margin to 35-3. Daune Morris finished with 116 yards on 14 carries while filling in after starter DeSean Bishop was slowed by a second-quarter injury and with Javin Gordon and Justin Baker both unavailable.
Coach Josh Heupel praised the depth at the position afterward.
“People get caught up with who the starter (Bishop) is.”
“Daune ran well. We’re fully confident in him. The guys trust him.”
Josh Heupel
Head Coach
Morris said there’s still room to grow:
“There’s a lot I can get better at. I’ve just got to focus on the details.”
Daune Morris
Running Back
Kennesaw State’s Jerry Mack, a former Tennessee running backs coach under Josh Heupel, could only watch as his defense wore down.
Tennessee added a late touchdown to reach the 42-point final, while Kennesaw State’s Rickie Collins engineered a couple of scoring drives, the Vols’ defense showed a bend but not break to allow only a field goal to get the Owls to 9.
Tennessee finished with 446 total yards, while Kennesaw State managed 291, including a 268-102 edge on the ground. Brandon completed 18 of 26 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown without an interception, extending his turnover-free start to the season. Owls QB Rickie Collins, who played much of the game from behind, threw for 189 yards on 22-of-34 passing (per the final box score) and remained the Owls’ primary offensive weapon even in a lopsided loss.
Josh Heupel had spent the week publicly refusing to treat the game as a “tune-up” ahead of next week’s showdown with No. 1 Texas, and his team backed him up with a business-like performance.
The win keeps Tennessee unbeaten (3-0) heading into arguably the biggest home game of its season. Kennesaw State drops to 1-2 and turns its attention to a Conference USA road trip to Arkansas State.
Up Next: Checker Neyland vs. Texas
Tennessee will “Checker Neyland” for its Sept. 26 SEC opener against Texas. It’s the 10th time in program history fans have been asked to fill Neyland Stadium’s stands in an orange-and-white checkerboard pattern, mirroring the end zones themselves. It’s presented by Pilot and comes with extra weight: it’s the first-ever regular-season meeting between Tennessee and Texas, and Tennessee’s first game against the Longhorns since 1969.
The tradition traces to a grassroots fan campaign in 2014. After watching Oklahoma fans “stripe” their stadium crimson and cream, Tennessee fan Spencer Barnett photoshopped a mockup of Neyland split into orange and white sections and posted it online. Knoxville residents Tim McLeod and Jonathan Briehl built CheckerNeyland.com within 24 hours, UT’s athletic department and then-coach Butch Jones endorsed the effort, and by kickoff against Florida that October, more than 102,000 fans had turned the stadium into a checkerboard.
Fans attending the Texas game can check CheckerNeyland.com to find out which color, orange or white will correspond to their section. The stakes are considerable: Tennessee is 3-0 and No. 1 Texas comes to Knoxville as one of the marquee matchups of the young season. It’s a top 15 match up at high noon. Sports Information Director Bill Martin reports that the first 2 hours of the show (9-11 ET) will air from the lawn of Ayres Hall then move inside stadium for kickoff.
