Tennessee-Georgia State Postgame Notes

TENNESSEE CAPTAINS

#39 Ben Bartholomew, #44 Maurice Couch, #64 James Stone, #86 Willie Bohannon.

LEGEND OF THE GAME

Today's Vol For Life Legend of the Game is Charles Davis, a defensive back for UT from 1983-86. He is the lead college football analyst for FOX.

TENNESSEE TIDBITS

This was the first meeting between Tennessee and Georgia State.

After wearing No. 88 vs. NC State, Alex Bullard donned No. 89 and made his first appearance of the game at TE on the opening drive.

UT all-time record: 796-346-53

UT in home openers: 92-18-5

UT was won 18 home openers in a row.

UT was won eight consecutive games against non-conference foes.

UT is 47-9 at home in September since 1990 and 56-23-2 overall during the month during that time span.

Bill Curry's record vs. Tennessee as a head coach fell to 5-12-1.

Today's attendance is 87,821.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Mychal Rivera celebrated his 22nd birthday with his second career TD reception, hauling in a 19-yard pass from Tyler Bray in the second stanza. He finished with four catches for 70 yards.

BIG ORANGE DEBUTS

True freshmen Jason Croom (WR), Daniel Gray (DB), LaDarrell McNeil (DB), Omari Phillips (DL), Trent Taylor (DL) and Quenshaun Watson (RB) saw their first game action as Volunteers.

Another true freshman, Justin King (FB), made his Big Orange debut in the third quarter as the quarterback in Tennessee's Wildcat package.

Only two true freshmen (Cody Blanc and Deon Bonner) played last week vs. NC State.

Redshirt freshmen Mack Crowder (OL), Kyler Kerbyson (OL), Alan Posey (OL) and Trevarris Saulsberry (DL) made their first UT appearances.

Justin Worley entered the game with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter and made his 2012 debut.

Junior Derrick Brodus made his first showing of 2012, kicking a 25-yard field goal.

Junior wide receiver Tyler Drummer earned his first playing time in a game as a Vol.

FOR STARTERS

Dontavis Sapp made his first career start vs. Georgia State.

Willie Bohannon got his fifth career start.

With UT opening the game in a nickle package, Eric Gordon got his eighth career start.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST

Tennessee's total of 51 points is the second-highest tally of the Derek Dooley era, ranking behind the 52 the Vols scored vs. Ole Miss in 2010.

The Vols have posted back-to-back 500+ total yardage games in the opening two contests of the season for the first time ever.

Tennessee also posted its first back-to-back 500+ total yardage contests since gaining 502 vs. Arkansas and 590 vs. Kentucky in 2000.

BRAY SENSATIONAL IN HOME OPENER

In his 14th career start, Tyler Bray recorded his eighth career game of 300-plus yards passing, finishing 18 of 20 for 310 yards and four touchdowns.

Bray also produced his fifth contest with four or more TD passes.

He recorded his eighth career game with at least three TD passes.

Bray threw three TD passes to Justin Hunter (25 yds., 11 yds., 19 yds.) and tossed a 19-yarder to Mychal Rivera.

The Vol QB completed his last 13 passes, including nine straight in the second quarter, tying for the third-longest completion streak in school history with Casey Clausen and Jeff Francis.

Only Tee Martin (24) and Erik Ainge (15) completed more passes in a row than Bray.

BIG DAY FOR HUNTER

Justin Hunter tied the UT record for TD receptions in a game, snaring three scoring tosses from Tyler Bray. The catches were for 25, 11 and 19 yards.

He became the eighth UT player (ninth occasion) to post three TD receptions in a game. Chris Hannon was the last Vol to do it (2003 vs. Miss. State). Donte' Stallworth did it twice during his career.

Hunter posted the fifth 100-yard receiving effort of his career, finishing with eight catches for 146 yards.

Hunter now has 12 TD catches for his career, three this season.

This marks the first three-TD game of Hunter's career. He had two vs. Ole Miss on Nov. 13, 2010.

QUICK STRIKES

Mychal Rivera's TD reception in the second quarter capped the fourth scoring drive of 34 seconds or less this season. UT had only one such quick TD tally in all of 2011, coming on the opening drive in the opening game vs. Montana.

RUSHING RAJION

Rajion Neal posted the first multiple-touchdown game of his career, scoring on a pair of short runs.

Neal notched his fourth career TD and second this season, capping a13-play, 78-yard game-opening drive with a one-yard run.

He added career TD number five and the third of 2012 with a five-yard rush in the third period. It came on a second-effort extension of the ball over the goal line.

"CP" MAKING MORE NOISE

Cordarelle Patterson finished with 195 all-purpose yards for Tennessee.

"CP" finished with three kickoff returns for 106 yards and caught three passes for 71 yards, including a long of 45.

Patterson added a rush for 18 yards.

He has 360 all-purpose yards through two games this season.

SENTIMORE MAKES HIS PRESENCE KNOWN

With Georgia State driving deep into Tennessee territory in the first quarter, defensive lineman Darrington Sentimore recorded his first career sack. He dropped GSU's Ben McLane for an 11-yard loss.

Willie Bohannon sacked GSU's Ben McLane for a nine-yard loss in the first quarter and forced the second fumble of his career, which GSU recovered.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Cordarelle Patterson returned Georgia State's first-quarter kickoff 61 yards. The Vols' best K.O. return all year in 2011 was a 60-yard effort by Devrin Young.

Patterson finished the first half with three kickoff returns for 106 yards.

Devrin Young later followed Patterson's effort with a 35-yard punt return, marking the second-longest runback of his career behind a 43-yard jaunt vs. Buffalo in 2011.

OSKIE FOR ORTA

Geraldo Orta played in last week's opener vs. NC State, seeing his first collegiate action, but he didn't record any stats.

This week, he tallied his first career interception, Tennessee's fifth of the season, and added a PBU on the goal line.

ALLOWANCES

The field goal UT surrendered to Georgia State in the first quarter represented the first three offensive points the Panthers had scored against an FBS team. GSU tacked on another FG in the second period.

The Panthers added their first-ever TD against an FBS school with 58 seconds remaining in the game.

The total of 13 points is the most Georgia State has scored against an FBS school.

University of Tennessee Athletics

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