KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee scored on its first four possessions and on seven of its first eight on the way to a 60-14 win over South Alabama on a cold Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
South Alabama fell to 5-6, its third straight loss. Tennessee improved to 6-5.
Vols Build Early Lead
Jabari Small opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run, and Jaylen Wright added a 17-yard run in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Hendon Hooker threw touchdown passes of 27 yards to Cedric Tillman and 24 yards to Princeton Fant for a 28-0 lead.
South Alabama got on the board after a fake punt. Facing fourth-and-6 at their own 41, the Jaguars snapped the ball directly to Wayne Gallmon, who ran for 26 yards. On third-and-goal from the Tennessee 3, Desmond Trotter threw a touchdown pass to Lincoln Sefcik.
Tennessee answered immediately. Velus Jones, a Mobile native, fielded Diego Guajardo’s kickoff at the 4-yard line and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown with 1:18 left before halftime.
Second Half
South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack opened the second half with an onside kick, and the Jaguars recovered, but the offense went three-and-out. Tennessee scored on its first three possessions of the half to build a 56-7 lead in the fourth quarter.
On fourth-and-3 at the South Alabama 32, Trotter threw a short pass to Jalen Tolbert, who made a defender miss and went 68 yards for a touchdown to make it 56-14.
Tennessee added two safeties in the closing stretch, one on a sack of Trotter and another when a snap sailed over punter Jack Brooks and out of the end zone.
Statistical Leaders
Tennessee gained 561 yards, 311 passing and 250 rushing, and converted 8 of 11 third downs. South Alabama finished with 285 yards, 216 passing and 69 rushing. The Jaguars converted 1 of 16 third downs and 5 of 8 fourth downs, and held a 37:00 to 23:00 edge in time of possession.
- Trotter completed 19 of 32 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns and was sacked four times.
- Tolbert caught seven passes for a game-high 143 yards and a touchdown.
- Jalen Wayne had two catches for 55 yards.
- Kareem Walker led the Jaguars with 29 rushing yards on seven carries; Bryan Hill had 27 yards on 10 carries.
- Gallmon led the defense with seven tackles, six solo.
Hooker completed 17 of 20 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Jones caught six passes for 103 yards, and Tillman had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Wright ran 13 times for 83 yards and a touchdown, and Small had 73 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
Wommack: ‘Terrible Performance’
“It was a terrible performance by our guys,” Wommack said. “We didn’t stop them defensively at all. Offensively we had opportunities in the red zone and didn’t take care of business.”
“Look, when you have a team like this that goes as fast as they do and has great talent all that stuff, you have to dig deep,” Wommack said. “You have to find ways to make plays on both sides of the ball and we weren’t able to do that.”
Up Next: Coastal Carolina
South Alabama can become bowl eligible and end its three-game losing streak on Friday when it hosts Coastal Carolina at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
