After dropping to Southeastern Convention rival Georgia once more final weekend, No. 11 Tennessee is perhaps licking its wounds a bit.
The Volunteers (8-2) will shut out their house slate Saturday afternoon with what is going to seemingly be a neater matchup, dealing with Convention USA foe UTEP (2-8) in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Volunteers want to rebound from a 31-17 drubbing by the hands of Georgia final Saturday.
Tennessee sprinted out of the gate and led 10-0 after the primary quarter, nevertheless coach Kirby Sensible’s crew discovered its footing and steamrolled the Volunteers.
“It is a chance for us to develop as a soccer crew and proceed to get higher,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel mentioned of dealing with the Miners on Senior Day. “It is the following step ahead for us.”
Heupel mentioned his gamers are adequate and have the kind of tradition to place an eighth straight setback towards Georgia behind them.
“They made final week an enormous recreation due to what they’ve invested,” he mentioned. “We’re within the area and we have to go make it occur. … There are areas we have to get higher.
“There are simply too many situations of Tennessee hurting Tennessee on Saturday, and that is not taking something away from Georgia. However the issues that we will management, we have to be higher at.”
The unhealthy information for the Volunteers was they had been tabbed eleventh within the rankings, trailing fellow SEC members No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Georgia.
Tennessee will shut out its season towards in-state rival Vanderbilt on the street in Nashville subsequent Saturday.
The Miners haven’t been in lots of positions the place they led from the outset or had an opportunity to win, however they did two weeks in the past towards Kennesaw State in a recreation that went previous regulation.
Within the second extra time, Kenny Odom caught a 16-yard cross from Skyler Locklear as UTEP earned a 43-35 double extra time win over the Owls.
Locklear fired 4 landing passes, Odom caught three of them and UTEP’s “Orange Swarm” protection pressured three straight incompletions to finish the competition.
That efficiency earned Locklear the convention’s Offensive Participant of the Week honors, whereas Kory Chapman was honored because the Convention USA Defensive Participant of the Week.
Lockler has accomplished 67.0 p.c of his passes with 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions this season. Odom, in flip, has 642 receiving yards and 7 landing receptions.
The crew has discovered itself in tight video games recently: The final 4 outcomes — two wins and two losses — have all been determined by single digits.
“I am so happy with this crew, and I have been speaking about perseverance all yr,” UTEP coach Scotty Walden mentioned after the Senior Day/Homecoming win. “That is precisely what they did; they persevered by means of adversity. … We performed with plenty of satisfaction and plenty of ardour.”
Tennessee and UTEP have solely met as soon as, a 24-0 Volunteers victory on Sept. 15, 2018, in Knoxville.
–Area Stage Media
