University of Tennessee Athletics
Four Downs: UTC Weekend by the Numbers
October 13, 2014 | Football
UTSports.com
Each week, UTSports.com takes a look at the numbers from the weekend past and the weekend ahead in Four Downs. This week: Worley the scoring machine, the defense being stingy on points and a breakthrough win on the coin toss.
First Down: 5 - Justin Worley Touchdowns
Justin Worley was responsible for all five of Tennessee touchdowns scored while he was in the game against Chattanooga. The three touchdown passes were expected, it was the third time this season and fourth time in his Vol career that he had tossed three scores. He also did it against Utah State and Georgia earlier this year and Austin Peay in the 2013 season opener.
The two TDs on the ground were a little less expected, though. Worley had just one rushing touchdown in his career coming into the game, a 5-yard run against Arkansas State. A QB rushing for two scores is rare, the last one to do it at Tennessee was Casey Clausen, who had a pair of 1-yard scores against Michigan in the 2002 Citrus Bowl. Clausen also threw for three TDs that day for five total scores.
The last time a UT quarterback accounted for five scores in a game was Tyler Bray, who had all five through the air in the 55-48 shootout win over Troy in 2012.
Worley became the first Volunteer to rush for two touchdowns in a game since Rajion Neal had a pair against Georgia last season.
Worley's three touchdown passes gave the senior a new single-season career-high with 12. Coming into the season, Worley had just 11 TD passes in his career.
One more stat on Worley: Tennessee has scored 20 touchdowns this season, Worley has either thrown or run for 15 of them.
Second Down: 10 - Chattanooga Points
After giving up just 10 points to the Mocs, the Tennessee defense has now held each of its six opponents to season lows in points as of the date of the contest. Oklahoma (34) has been held to fewer twice since (33 vs. TCU, 31 vs. Texas) and Georgia (35) scored 34 in its blanking of Missouri.
The Volunteers have held all six opponents under their current season scoring average, three of those more than 20 points under that average. UT held Utah State to seven points, the Aggies average 27.7. Florida was held to 10 points, well under its season average of 31.7. UTC's season average is down to 30.7 points per game after scoring 10 yesterday.
Through six games, Tennessee opponents have averaged 19.2 points per game, nearly 10 points fewer than the 29.0 ppg that UT gave up in 2013. Through six games last season, UT had surrendered 28.0 ppg.
After holing Florida to 10 points a week ago, UT has held opponents to 10 points or less in consecutive games for the first time since holding Vanderbilt and Kentucky to 10 points each in the final two games of the 2008 season.
Third Down: Quick Hits
3 - Rushing touchdowns by Tennessee quarterbacks. Justin Worley wasn't the only QB to find the end zone on the ground. Nathan Peterman scored UT's final touchdown on a 15-yard run for the first score of his career. It marked the first time since Tee Martin ran for three TDs against Georgia in 1999 that the quarterback position accounted for three rushing scores in a game.
It was the first time since UT ran for four against Western Kentucky last season that Tennessee scored three or more rushing touchdowns in a game.
1 - Consecutive pregame coin flips won. Entering the coin flip against UTC, Tennessee had lost 11 consecutive pre-game coin flips dating back to the meeting with Georgia in Neyland Stadium last season. Add in the coin toss prior to overtime against Georgia and it was 12 straight overall.
7 - Points on Tennessee's first drive. It was just the second time in 2014 that UT had scored points on its first drive, the first time the Volunteers had come away with a touchdown. Tennessee got a field goal on its opening drive against Georgia. The last time UT scored a touchdown on its opening drive was Rajion Neal's 60-yard run against Kentucky last season.
1,388 - Worley passing yards in 2014, a new career high. Through six games, Worley has already thrown for more yards than he did in eight games last season (1,239).
45 - Points scored by UT, a new season high in 2014. It marked the highest point total for Tennessee since scoring 52 against Western Kentucky last season.
23 - True freshmen to see action this season after Derrell Scott made his debut against UTC. The 23 true freshmen to see the field is the most of any team in FBS.
1 - Penalties against Tennessee. The Vols were penalized just once for the second time this season. UT had five penalty yards, the fewest since the Vols were penalty-free against Austin Peay last season.
7 - Touchbacks on kickoffs by Aaron Medley. It is the most in a single game since at least 2000, as far back as record for the stat are available. Seven touchbacks are more than in the entire seasons of 2001 (0), 02 (0), 03 (0), 07 (4), 08 (4), 09 (4), 10 (1) and 11 (6).
0 - Kick Return Yards for Devrin Young, who left the game with an injury before UT had a kick return opportunity. Young stayed stationary in his pursuit of the all-time kick return record with 1,543 kick return yards, 245 away from Leonard Scott (1,788) for second and just 311 yards from Willie Gault's all-time record of 1,854.
27 - Consecutive starts made by Justin Coleman.
253 - Consecutive games with a point scored by UT, dating back to Sept. 17, 1994. It marks the fourth-longest active streak in FBS, the 10th-longest in history
Fourth Down: A Look Ahead
44 - All-time wins against Mississippi, the next opponent up for Tennessee. The Volunteers have won 13 of the last 14 in the series, the lonely loss in that stretch coming in Oxford in 2009.
Tennessee is 3-1 all-time in Oxford, a rare location for the series to be contested. The series has been played 30 times in Knoxville, 24 times in Memphis, six times in Jackson, Mississippi and just four times in Oxford.
5 - Road games against top-10 opponents in Butch Jones' tenure at UT when UT faces No. 3 Ole Miss on Saturday. Nine of Jones 18 games at Tennessee have been against ranked opponents. Only one of those nine, Florida in 2013, was ranked outside of the top-15.
6 - Wins on Oct. 18. Tennessee has won two consecutive games on the date, a 38-21 triumph over Alabama in the final UT-UA game played at Legion Field in Birmingham in 1997 and a 34-3 win over Mississippi State in Knoxville in 2008.
11 - All-time wins in the state of Mississippi, where UT will take the field next on Saturday and it's once again Football Time in Tennessee!
