Well, the score was a little one-sided (Hilltoppers 7, Volunteers 63) but they stayed in it and gave it a good effort. Hopefully they'll be watching the tapes on this one to figure out what went wrong.
On several occasions when the Hilltoppers' Senior QB Brandon Smith did have time to throw a pass, apparently no one could get open. When he did find a receiver open it was usually for only a few yards.
If it hadn't been for several Tennessee turnovers, the Vols halftime lead of 28 - 0 would have been a lot worse. One example - an early first quarter interception that gave the Hilltoppers possession of the ball with decent field position. However, their attempt at some kind of first-down-reverse-flea-flicker ended up putting them back 10 yards where they promptly went four and out.
In fact, for much of the game the Toppers were posting negative offensive yardage.
The Hilltoppers did finally find the goal line in their only real drive of the game late in the 3rd quarter, no doubt when the Vols were resting their starters. It wasn't long though before the Vols' starters were back in the game where, in the 4th quarter, they scored another 35 points!
It's going to be a few years before the Hilltoppers even have a chance of knocking-off one of these Top Tier teams, but I have faith in them and fully support the schools decision to move up to the FBS.
Hang in there Topps and better luck next week in the home opener in Bowling Green against the University of South Florida!!
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