Tonight’s Tennessee Volunteers vs Appalachian State Mountaineers college football game will have a start time schedule of 7:30pm eastern time and airs on TV channel SEC Network. Appalachian State is a good team that outscored its opponents by almost 18 points per game last season, and it’s well positioned to compete in the Sun Belt this year, but going from controlling the game against an SEC contender to losing on a lucky fumble play has to hurt regardless. Nashville’s Jalen Hurd pounced on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown and the Vols defense prevented the Mountaineers from scoring.
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A touchdown is a touchdown and a win is a win, and that’s the way Tennessee fans need to look at this game. The Tennessee defense held a veteran Mountaineer offense that ranked 15th nationally in yards per play a year ago to just 3 of 13 on third down conversions. Taylor Lamb’s pass fell incomplete in the end zone on fourth down to end the game. Appalachian State had the same amount of rushing attempts – but had 184 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per carry.
MIAMI – Richard Lagow passed for one score and ran for another in the fourth quarter, and in returned two interceptions for touchdowns in its season-opening 34-13 victory over Florida International.
The Mountaineers had difficulty in the kicking game, missing an extra point and two field goals. However, quarterback Joshua Dobbs had a big play in that quarter, finding Josh Malone for the 67-yard touchdown. From my account, he may have had his Heisman moment in overtime to score the go-ahead points and the eventual win.
Cam Sutton, the nation’s leading punt returner last season, fumbled his first attempt Thursday to set up an Appalachian State touchdown. Unfortunate ball bounces found their way back to Tennessee to give them what would become the winning score. Hurd rushed for 1,288 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
There were signs of trouble even in that first half, but they could easily be ignored. App State had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, with the ball at the Tennessee 33 with 35 seconds left.
“I saw Jalen down with the ball”, Dobbs said. In receiving, Shaedon Meadors and Jaquil Capel will have to play harder and efficient to help the team in pulling an upset against Tennessee. They had been placed in the preseason top 10, and picked by many as the darling of the SEC East.
3. Fun with Names on Jerseys: I think this is going to be a thing during college football broadcasts this fall.
Appalachian State has one more opportunity to tilt the national balance in a couple of weeks with a home game against Miami, which is hovering at the edge of the Top 25. “We knew the ability to sustain blocks would be tough with their quickness up front”.
Jackson’s performance was an impressive follow-up to his breakout freshman season in which he combined for 2,800 yards and 23 TDs – including 960 rushing to break Louisville season and career marks by a QB.
“Obviously we know there are some things that we have to improve on”, Dobbs said. More importantly, it limited App State to just 292 yards – the exact same total that Clemson gave up it in its meeting with the Mountaineers last season.
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The Vols head to Bristol Motor Speedway next week to face Virginia Tech in a game that is expected to draw over 150,000 fans and post the largest recorded attendance in college football history.
