University of Tennessee Athletics
Four Downs: The Weekend by the Numbers
December 01, 2014 | Football
By Brian Rice
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: Punt return fun, living in the opponents' backfield and goin' bowlin'.
First Down: 76 - Yards On Cameron Sutton's Punt Return
Cameron Sutton's success returning punts this season had been limited, at best. Entering the game against Vanderbilt, Sutton had just 11 returns on the season, mostly opting to fair catch balls in heavy coverage. He had 72 return yards on those 11 returns coming into the season's final game.
Sutton more than doubled his season return yards on his first opportunity against the Commodores, breaking a return 76 yards for a touchdown that gave Tennessee an early 7-0 lead.
It was the first punt return TD since Cordarrelle Patterson's on the very same field in 2012. Patterson's 81-yard return that night against the Commodores provided Tennessee's final score of that game, meaning the Vols had back-to-back scores at Vanderbilt Stadium on punt returns. Sutton's return was also the first special teams score for UT since Patterson's return.
The Tennessee career records on punt return TDs are attainable for the sophomore, provided he continues to return punts in the bowl game and next season. The single-season record for punt return touchdowns is two, held by Terry Fair (1996), Stanley Morgan (1975) Eddie Brown (1973) and Bobby Majors (1969, 1971). Majors holds the career record with four.
It was not Sutton's first trip to the end zone, however. Last season, Sutton became the first true freshman to return an interception for a touchdown since Eric Berry in 2007 with a 36-yard return against Western Kentucky.
Second Down: 5 - Tennessee Tackles For Loss
Tennessee had five more tackles for loss against the Commodores, giving the Volunteers five or more in all 12 games this season.
With the five TFLs against Vanderbilt, the Volunteers now have 88 tackles for loss on the year, the most since also recording 88 in 2006.
That 2006 season was the last time Tennessee had 80 or more TFLs, it was the fifth-straight year that UT finished with 80 or more, including 92 TFL seasons in 2003 and 2004.
Derek Barnett recorded two more TFLs against Vandy, adding to his team-best 20.5 TFLs, which moved him up to fifth on the all-time single-season TFL list at Tennessee. He obliterated the previous Tennessee record for true freshmen (5.5 by Maggitt in 2011) and all freshmen (7.0 by Billy Ratliff in 1996 and Dale Jones in 1983 as redshirt freshmen).
Barnett's 20.5 TFLs ties him with Missouri's Shane Ray for tops in the SEC. Barnett and Ray are tied for third nationally in TFLs, behind Arizona's Scooby Wright, III (27.0) and Hawai'i's Hau'Oli Kikana (24.0)
UT has multiple players with double-digit tackles for loss for the first time since 2008 when Robert Ayers led the team with 15.5 and Nevin McKenzie had 10.0.
Barnett and Curt Maggitt are just the second and third players since 2008 to have double-digit TFLs, joining Malik Jackson, who had 11.0 in 2010 and 2011. Tennessee had no players with 10 or more in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Third Down: Quick Hits
2.0 - Curt Maggitt sacks. The redshirt junior took over the Tennessee lead with 11.0 sacks on the season, which ties him with Leonard Little (1995) and Todd Kelly, Sr. (1992) for fourth on the UT single-season sack list.
Maggitt's 11.0 sacks are the most by a Tennessee player since John Henderson's 12 in 2000. When combined with Derek Barnett's UT freshman-record 10 sacks, the duo's 21.0 is the highest two-player total since Anthony Sessions and Henderson's 21.5 in 2000.
8.0 - Maggitt sacks in his last five games.
262 - Yards of total offense, the fewest in a win since a gaining 243 in a 20-10 victory at Vanderbilt in 2008.
92 - Passing yards, also the fewest in a win since the 2008 Vanderbilt game, when UT had just 21.
12 - Starts at right guard for freshman Jashon Robertson, the only member of the Vol O-Line to start all 12 games at the same position. Redshirt junior Kyler Kerbyson has started all 12 games on the OL, but at 3 different positions.
5 - Tackles for sophomore Jalen Reeves-Maybin, pusing him over the 100 tackles mark for his Tennessee career. Reeves-Maybin ranks second on the team in tackles with 88 and has at least 5 in every game this season.
3 - Sacks by the Tennessee defense, bumping the team total to 35, the most by a Volunteer defense since 2000, when a UT defense led by John Henderson's 12 sacks had 50 for the season.
1 - Aaron Medley field goals, pushing his season total to 19, tied for the fifth-most FG in a season with Jeff Hall (1998) and Greg Burke (1990). His 19 are the second-most by a UT true freshman, trailing only Daniel Lincoln, who had 21 in 2007.
7 - Matt Darr punts, for an average of 48.5 yards. With a season-best four punts of 50-plus yards, Darr has 21 punts of 50 yards or more. He landed two inside the 20 and one inside the 10, giving him 20 punts inside the 20-yard line and 12 inside the 10-yard line.
76 - Punts by Darr in 2014, the most since Craig Colquitt's Tennessee record of 79, set in 1974.
5 - Catches for Pig Howard for 55 yards, surpassing the 1,000-yard receiving mark in his career. He finished the game with 1,031 receiving yards for his career and had a team-high 589 yards on the season.
2 - Joshua Dobbs rushing touchdowns, giving him the Tennessee lead in touchdowns with six, achieved in just five games this season.
1 - Justin Coleman interceptions, giving him a team-high four INTs this season. Three of those four have come in the last four games.
50 - Penalties in 2014 for Tennessee, fewest in the SEC. UT's 389 penalty yards are also tops in the conference.
259 - 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
49 - Previous bowl appearances for Tennessee, the bid earned this season will be the program's 50th, the fourth-most in the NCAA.
25 - Bowl wins for Tennessee, sixth-most in the NCAA. The Volunteers' last bowl win came on January 1, 2008, when UT defeated Wisconsin, 21-17, in the Outback Bowl.
0 - Bowl appearances for members of Tennessee's current roster.
6 - Bowl appearances for Butch Jones-coached teams in his eight seasons as a head coach. The Vols will look to give Jones a win in the program's first bowl game since 2010 when it's once again Football Time in Tennessee!
