UT vs. ASU Postgame Notes

Sept. 2, 2016

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UT vs. ASU Postgame Notes 

POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Tennessee improved its all-time record to 821-371-53, standing in ninth place among FBS programs.
The Vols are now 455-123-17 in their 95th season at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee improved to 106-57-4 in night games, including 67-27-2 at Neyland.
The Vols found a way to extend their winning streak to seven games. It's the longest UT win spree since the 2001 campaign, when UT won its last seven contests of the regular season before falling to LSU in the SEC Championship Game.
UT is one of just four schools (Alabama-12, San Diego State-10, Tennessee-7, Western Kentucky-6) with active win streaks of six or more games.
Butch Jones improved to 22-17 in his fourth year at Tennessee and is 72-44 in this 10th season overall.
The Vols improved to 4-2 in games played on Sept. 1. UT snapped a two-game losing streak in Sept. 1 contests.
UT improved to 12-1 in games televised by the SEC Network.
The Vols' No. 9 rating in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll is its highest spot at the dawn of a season since starting out at No. 3 in 2005.
Attendance: 100,074

Vol Captains/Coin Tosses

Head coach Butch Jones announced Tennessee's full-season captains at halftime of the 2016 DISH Orange & White Game. The appointed leaders are senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs, redshirt junior tailback Alvin Kamara, senior defensive back Cameron Sutton and senior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
The Vols have not had full-season designees since 2011, with captains named on a game-by-game basis from 2012-15.
In the opener vs. Appalachian State, the Mountaineers won the coin toss and elected to receive.
App State also won the coin toss in overtime and elected to go on defense first.

Series Notes

This was the first meeting between Tennessee and Appalachian State. UT's football program dates back to 1891, and App State's began in 1928.
In his fourth season as UT's head coach, Jones is 12-3 against non-conference opponents.
The Vols are now 9-0 vs. current members of the Sun Belt Conference.
Mountaineers linebacker coach Dale Jones is a Tennessee football hero. He tipped and intercepted a pass from Alabama QB Mike Shula to preserve a 16-14 win over the Tide en route to the 1985 SEC title and an eventual Sugar Bowl victory over Miami.

Season-Opening Details

Tennessee now owns a 90-24-6 (.775) all-time record in 120 season openers.
UT has won eight-straight season openers and 20 of its last 22.
The Vols have won 22 consecutive season openers played in the state of Tennessee, dating to 1986.
Jones is 4-0 in season-openers at Tennessee and 7-3 overall, including a 6-0 home mark in season openers.
Tennessee trailed at the half of an opener for the first time since Sept. 1, 2007 (Cal, 31-21, en route to a 45-31 win for the Golden Bears).
UT had a halftime deficit in an opener at home for the first time since Sept. 1, 1984 (Washington State, 16-14, en route to a 34-27 UT victory).

Thursday Night Lights

UT opened its season on Thursday for the first time since the then-No. 11 Vols took a 28-11 victory over Louisville on Sept. 5, 1991.
Tennessee is 26-20-7 all-time in Thursday games and had last played on a Thursday on Dec. 30, 2010, in a 30-27, 2OT loss to North Carolina in the Music City Bowl.
UT's last regular-season Thursday game was a 41-3 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 3, 1996 in Memphis. The Vols were ranked No. 9 in that game as well.

For Starters

Sophomore free safety Micah Abernathy logged his first start as a Vol, as did redshirt freshman left tackle Drew Richmond.
Six freshmen saw duty in the opener for UT, including four true freshmen (Marquill Osborne, Nigel Warrior, Tyler Byrd and Baylen Buchanan) and a pair of redshirt freshmen (Drew Richmond, Eli Wolf).

Offensively Speaking

Jalen Hurd eclipsed 100 yards for the 11th time in his career and for the fourth straight game, finishing with 110 on 28 carries and a fumble recovery in the end zone for the only touchdown scored in overtime.
Hurd has 12 career games with 20 or more rushing attempts.
Hurd moved into ninth place for most career carries at UT with 495. He surpassed Jamal Lewis (10th, 487, 1997-99) and Travis Stephens (9th, 488, 1997-2001).
With Hurd's recovery of Joshua Dobbs' fumble in the end zone in overtime, UT ran its streak to 16 consecutive games with a rushing touchdown, dating back to 2014.
That scoring play proved to be the difference in the game for the Vols.
Tennessee now has scored in 274 straight games, which is the fourth-longest active streak in the NCAA.
With 10:30 to go in the game, quarterback Joshua Dobbs and wide receiver Josh Malone brought the Vol faithful to life, connecting on a 67-yard scoring strike to tie the game at 13 after Aaron Medley's PAT. It was the fourth career TD reception by Malone and the 27th all-time TD pass for Dobbs.
The scoring toss from Dobbs was his longest since a 75-yard TD pass to Malone vs. Kentucky on Oct. 31, 2015.
Dobbs recorded his second career fourth-quarter comeback victory. He also led a final-stanza charge vs. South Carolina in 2014.
Dobbs moved past QB Jeff Francis (5,900, 1985-88) into sixth place in career total yards on Tennessee's first drive of the game. Dobbs now has 6,085 career total yards.
Wide receiver Preston Williams hauled in a career-high five catches for 45 yards.

Defensively Speaking

Micah Abernathy turned in a career-high eight tackles and thwarted a fourth-down attempt with a pass defense in the end zone to seal Tennessee's overtime victory.
Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Cortez McDowell recorded nine tackles each to pace Tennessee's defense, with Kirkland Jr. tying his best and McDonald establishing his. Kirkland also had nine vs. South Carolina last season, while McDonald had four vs. Georgia in 2014.
Cameron Sutton came up with a huge interception with 6:54 remaining in the third quarter, the seventh of his career, to halt an App State drive at the UT 31. The Vols converted that miscue into three points via an Aaron Medley 39-yard field goal with 3:54 left in the third quarter.
With that takeaway, Tennessee has now forced a turnover for the 27th time in the last 31 games.
For the third time in Butch Jones' four seasons as head coach, Tennessee forced its season-opening opponent to punt on its opening drive.
The Vols had to overcome the loss of one of their defensive leaders after senior Jalen Reeves-Maybin was ejected in the first quarter after being flagged for targeting while making a tackle on punt coverage.

Special Teams

second half in positive fashion for Tennessee, returning the kickoff 41 yards to set the Vols up with good field position.

Aaron Medley

Aaron Medley kicked field goals of 23 and 39 yards vs. Appalachian State.
Medley now is 43-of-59 on career field goal attempts, including 15-of-17 on attempts between 19-29 yards and 22-of-24 between 30-39 yards.
Medley was 2-of-2 on PATs. He is now 99-of-100 for his career.
Trevor Daniel averaged 49.2 yards on six punts, including three inside the 20 and two of 50 or more yards. He now has 28 inside the 20 in his career and 24 kicks of 50 or more yards.

UT Leads NCAA In Overtime Wins

Tennessee improved to 12-6 in overtime games and now has the most OT wins in NCAA football history. The Vols were tied with Missouri (11-5).

Upon Further Review

Officials reviewed Jalen Reeves-Maybin's first-quarter tackle of ASU punt returner Jaquil Capel, upholding the original penalty called for targeting. Reeves-Maybin was ejected.
In the second quarter, a pass reception by Josh Smith was reviewed and overturned, resulting in an incomplete pass.
Regulation time expired on an Appalachian State offensive play. Officials reviewed the play, and the call on the field was confirmed.
Officials ruled that Jalen Hurd recovered Joshua Dobbs' fumble in the end zone. The play was reviewed and confirmed, resulting in Tennessee's winning touchdown in overtime.

University of Tennessee Athletics

POSTGAME NOTES

Tennessee Tidbits

Vol Captains/Coin Tosses

Series Notes

Season-Opening Details

Thursday Night Lights

For Starters

Offensively Speaking

Defensively Speaking

Special Teams

UT Leads NCAA In Overtime Wins

Upon Further Review

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