The No. 3 Volunteers easily defeated No. 19 Kentucky 44-6 on Saturday night to set up an 8-0 team matchup in a week after No. 1 Georgia’s 42-20 win over Florida in Jacksonville.
Kentucky struggled to cover Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt from the start. He was wide open, catching a 55-yard TD pass on the first drive of the game and catching another TD with no Kentucky defenders close by just before halftime to give the Vols a 27-6 lead at the break .
Hyatt’s second TD came after Kentucky was forced to stab with 37 seconds left. The punt was nearly blocked and traveled just 19 yards to set Tennessee up at the Kentucky 35 with just over a half minute left.
It then took Tennessee just two games to lead into the dressing room by three points. After Kentucky cut Tennessee’s early lead to a point of 7-6, the Vols went on a 15-play drive and an 8-play drive to build a lead that proved to be an insurmountable lead, even ahead of Hyatts second hit.
The game was a rare encounter between a potential Heisman finalist QB in Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker and a QB mentioned as a potential top 10 NFL draft pick in Will Levis. The potential Heisman finalist had the better game by far. Hooker threw for three TDs and ran for another and didn’t turn the ball over.
Not getting much help from his receivers, Levis threw three interceptions as Kentucky’s downfield passing game didn’t exist. Levis finished 16 of 27 with a pass for a paltry 98 yards. Kentucky had 205 yards in 63 games while Tennessee had 422 yards in 65 games.
Georgia, meanwhile, wasn’t sweating too much with Florida either. While the Gators came within eight points in the third quarter, Georgia pulled away slightly after that and made the final lead more representative of the gameplay. Dijon Edwards and Kenny McIntosh each rushed for two TDs and Brock Bowers had a ridiculous 73-yard TD grab on a pass that deflected multiple times.
The Bulldogs are likely to remain at No. 1 in Sunday’s AP Top 25, and Tennessee is likely to remain at No. 3, too, after Ohio State’s big win at No. 2 over Penn State. However, we won’t be surprised if the rankings are flipped Tuesday in the first edition of the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings. With victories over three teams likely to be in that first CFP Top 25, Tennessee has a strong claim for first place based on how the committee tends to judge teams, particularly in early November.
Could both teams claim No. 1 spots ahead of the biggest game at Sanford Stadium since Notre Dame visited in 2019? We’ll find out on Tuesday evening.
Tennessee easily beat Kentucky to go 8-0 and set up a big game against Georgia. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)