On Saturday night, the Tennessee football team returns to Neyland Stadium for the last time in nearly a month when it takes on Kent State before two away games at the end of the free period.
Kent State is not only a MAC team, but one of the worst FBS teams in the entire country. The Golden Flashes probably won’t win more than two games this season, so Tennessee shouldn’t expect any upsets this week.
Each week in this article, I’ll name three key factors that will help Tennessee win. But since there’s little doubt about the winner of the game before the instate matchup, I’ll name three key factors that will help Tennessee leave the matchup feeling good. Staying healthy is the most obvious, but I won’t mention it since it’s self-explanatory.
More from RTI: Check out the lineup for Tennessee Football vs. Kent State.
Receivers involved in the passing game
The only negative to take from Tennessee’s blowout win over NC State is that the receivers weren’t very involved in the passing game. Tennessee has strong receiver depth this season, but it’s unclear how effective the top starters are.
Chris Brazzell, Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton were great against Chattanooga, but weren’t much of a factor against NC State. I think that was more due to the circumstances of the game, as Tennessee won comfortably and ran a lot of two-tight end sets against the Wolfpack’s 3-3-5 defense.
Still, Tennessee’s success in throwing to receivers – especially early in the game when Nico Iamaleava was still playing – is a given and gives cause for optimism for the SEC opener against Oklahoma.
Gaston Moore shows a good performance
Tennessee backup quarterback Gaston Moore has plenty of coaching experience in Josh Heupel’s offense. He was with Heupel before the offensive guru left Central Florida for Tennessee. But Moore doesn’t have much playing experience.
The Vols’ game against Kent State will give him plenty of opportunities to play, and those could prove important down the road. If Nico Iamaleava misses a game or two due to injury, Moore will have to play well enough for Tennessee to beat teams like Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State or Vanderbilt.
Moore was shaky against Chattanooga, completing seven of 12 passes for 69 yards and an interception. I’m interested to see how he fares against the Golden Flashes.
Another strong performance from the secondary school
Tennessee’s secondary was the biggest question mark early in the season, but they have performed very well in their two games this season. Chattanooga didn’t seem to test them much, but NC State had the tools to put pressure on the Vols’ defensive backfield and they failed to do so.
Kent State probably won’t be able to put Tennessee’s secondary to much of a test, but after listening to head coach Kenni Burns this week, I expect them to be more aggressive than Chattanooga.
It would be more telling if Tennessee’s secondary struggled in this game, but if they put together another strong performance, there would be plenty of reason for optimism heading into the Oklahoma game.
