Instead, the Volunteers’ defense took center stage.
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Tennessee (6-4) became bowl eligible with the win and has a good opportunity to finish with eight wins.
This marks the first time Tennessee has won three consecutive games within the same season since reeling off four straight victories in 2010.
Kamara ran for 127 yards on 15 carries with a pair of scores for his fifth multi-touchdown game of the season. The Vols outgained the Mean Green in the first half, 226 yards to 101 yards.
The victory before the 96,197 in attendance at Neyland Stadium was also UT’s first shutout since a 45-0 win over Austin Peay on August 31, 2013, and the first time that North Texas had been shut out since a 41-0 loss to Alabama on September 17, 2011.
Tennessee had the type of favorable matchup in that figured to supply a showcase performance for its offense.
RUNNING WILD: Tennessee has averaged 207.3 yards rushing per game and could have plenty of running room against North Texas, which has allowed 5.8 yards per carry.
North Texas has allowed 45.6 points per game this season.
“It was great to have that production”, quarterback Josh Dobbs said.
“The fact is, I don’t feel any different now than I felt the last 10 or 12 years as a head coach”, Barnes said. “The defense picked up a lot of the slack for us”.
Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara collected a handoff, followed his blockers around the right edge and slipped past a defender before jetting easily into the end zone Saturday afternoon. He added a 15-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Kamara has 10 touchdowns this season – six on runs from scrimmage, three on catches and one on a punt return. Check out the Tennessee vs. North Texas prediction and game preview. If the Volunteers aren’t careful with ball security against North Texas’s defense, they are going to be in a few trouble.
“There isn’t a “U” before the ‘W, ‘ an ugly win”, Vols coach Butch Jones said. Whatever the case, the Vols will have to be much better next week against Missouri if they want to keep their winning streak going.
“That old one was thrown away, I think, just a couple weeks ago”, Barnes said. According to STATS LLC, this marked the first time a Football Bowl Subdivision team had played against interim coaches in back-to-back games since at least 1996, which was as far back as it had data on the subject. North Texas, which is 1-5 in Conference United States of America, has lost 11 straight road games dating back to the start of 2014.3.
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The Vols don’t believe they played particularly well last week in a 27-24 victory over SC.
