University of Tennessee Athletics
Four Downs: Mizzou Game by the Numbers
November 23, 2015 | 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: Hurd runs to history, defense impresses again and Dobbs sets a record.
First Down: 1,038 -- Hurd Rushing Yards in 2015
If not for injuries that limited his carries in two games, it is quite likely that Jalen Hurd would have had Tennessee's 19th 1,000-yard season as a freshman last year. Hurd had to settle for achieving that honor as a sophomore by running for a career-high 151 yards against Missouri on Saturday.
Tennessee's 1,000-Yard Rushers
- 1983 Johnnie Jones (1116)
- 1984 Johnnie Jones (1290)
- 1987 Reggie Cobb (1197)
- 1989 Chuck Webb (1236)
- 1990 Tony Thompson (1261)
- 1993 Charlie Garner (1161)
- 1994 James Stewart (1028)
- 1995 Jay Graham (1438)
- 1997 Jamal Lewis (1364)
- 2000 Travis Henry (1314)
- 2001 Travis Stephens (1464)
- 2004 Gerald Riggs Jr. (1107)
- 2004 Cedric Houston (1005)
- 2007 Arian Foster (1193)
- 2009 Montario Hardesty (1345)
- 2010 Tauren Poole (1034)
- 2013 Rajion Neal (1124)
- 2015 Jalen Hurd (1038)
The performance gives Hurd 1,038 yards on the season, a number that puts him in elite company in Tennessee history. It is the 19th 1,000-yard season by a Tennessee running back and Hurd is the 18th player to accomplish the feat. Only Johnnie Jones, UT's first 1,000-yard rusher in 1983 has reached the number more than once, repeating in 1984.
Hurd is the first player to reach 1,000 since Rajion Neal did so two seasons ago in 2013. He reached the number in his 11th game, the first player to do so since Montario Hardesty in 2009. Tauren Poole crossed 1,000 yards in the Music City Bowl, the 13th game of the 2010 season and Neal ran for 134 yards to cross the mark against Kentucky in the 12th game of 2013.
The defense that Hurd did it against makes his game even more impressive. Entering the game against Tennessee, Missouri had surrendered an average of 113.7 rushing yards per game. Hurd's 151 yards were more than all but one team had posted against the Tigers this season, only Vanderbilt's 168 yards were more than Hurd's total.
Hurd was the first player to eclipse the 100-yard mark against Missouri this season. It was the best single-game performance against the Tigers since Tre Mason of Auburn ran for 304 yards in the 2013 SEC Championship game.
Though 1,038 does not rank Hurd in the top 10 on Tennessee's single-season list, he is certainly in striking distance of moving up onto that chart. Arian Foster holds 10th place with 1,193 in 2007, just 155 yards away. Travis Stephens holds the single-season record with 1,464 in 2001.
Hurd's game was his fourth 100-yard performance this season, matching his total from 2014. The Vols have eight 100-yard games in 2015, four by Hurd and two each from Joshua Dobbs and Alvin Kamara. Tennessee had just five 100-yard games in 2014.
Second Down: 1 -- Red Zone Trips For Missouri
A week after the Tennessee defense did not allow a single Red Zone trip by North Texas, the Volunteers allowed Missouri just one venture inside the 20-yard line.
The Tigers did score on that possession in the fourth quarter, bringing an end to a remarkable run of perfection for the Vol defenders. A shutout streak that spanned over eight quarters, beginning with the fourth quarter of the South Carolina game, 125:59 of clock time, came to an end as Missouri QB just reached the pylon on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
It was the longest scoreless streak for a Tennessee defense since the 2002 Volunteers posted back-to-back shutouts against Vanderbilt and Kentucky to conclude the regular season.
The Vols were also able to recreate a remarkable stat from a week before. Against North Texas, the Tennessee defense allowed the Mean Green to cross the 50 just three times. Against the Tigers, it was the same story. The fourth MU drive of the night reached the Tennessee 37 before the Vols forced a fumble. A drive in the third quarter reached the UT 48 before a Mizzou punt.
Another place where recent history repeated itself was stopping the run. A week after holding North Texas to 92 yards on the ground, the fewest by an opponent since Vanderbilt in 2013, Tennessee went even lower. The Tigers had just 88 rushing yards, the fewest since Austin Peay ran for 79 in the 2013 opener. It was the best showing by a Tennessee defense against an SEC opponent since holding South Carolina to 65 yards on the ground in 2009.
Third Down: Quick Hits
54 -- Joshua Dobbs rushing yards. Dobbs continues to stalk Jimmy Streater's single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback of 593 in 1978. He added 54 yards to his pursuit, putting his season rushing total at 530 yards, just 63 yards away from. Dobbs sits at 1,188 career rushing yards, 186 yards from the 1,374 for Streater from 1976-79.
1 -- Dobbs rushing touchdowns. The junior's 8-yard TD run at the end of the first half gave him eight on the season, equaling his mark from a season ago. Combined with his rushing TD against Kentucky as a Freshman, Dobbs now has 17 on the ground, which moved him past Tee Martin, for second, behind Streater, on Tennessee's rushing TDs by a quarterback list.
248 -- Rushing yards. Tennessee ran for 200 yards for the seventh time this season. The Volunteers have rushed for 2,351 yards, the most since the 2004 Vols ran for 2,418 yards in the only season in UT history that featured two 1,000-yard rushers.
61 -- Evan Berry kick return yards. After being held without a return against North Texas, the sophomore was back in the groove against the Tigers, returning both kicks that came his way. He now has 1,204 kickoff return yards in his tenure as a Volunteer, which moved him past David Oku (1,175) for fifth place on the all-time list. Berry is 104 yards from Corey Larkins total of 1,307 for fourth and 339 away from Devrin Young (1,543) for third.
The 61 yards give Berry 791 for the season, good for second on Tennessee's single-season list. He stands just 72 yards away from David Oku's record of 863 set in 2009.
1 -- Rushing touchdown. As a team, the Volunteers now have 24 rushing touchdowns, the most since the 1999 Vols ran for 30. In the time since, UT has had 20 or more rushing TDs just three times. The Vols scored 20 touchdowns on the ground in 2000 and 2014 and 21 in 2004. This marks the first time since 1999-2000 that Tennessee has had back-to-back 20+ touchdown seasons.
16 -- First half points. Tennessee has outscored its opponents in the first half, 225-98, and have trailed at the half just once, 24-17 to Georgia.
98 -- Yards by the Tennessee offense in the opening quarter. Over the last four games, the Vols have outgained their opponents, 589-102, in the first quarter.
271 -- Consecutive games with a point scored by UT, dating back to Sept. 17, 1994. It marks the fourth-longest active streak in FBS, the ninth-longest in history.
1 -- Catch by Ethan Wolf, the only Vol to have at least one reception in every game this season.
4 -- Offensive plays of 20+ yards by Tennessee. The Vols have 54 plays of 20 yards or more this season.
2 -- Third downs converted by Missouri against the Tennessee defense. Vol opponents have converted just 45 third downs on 163 attempts (27.6 percent), second in the SEC and fifth in the country.
35.7 -- Penalty yards per game for Tennessee, the fourth-lowest in the NCAA this year.
Fourth Down: A Look Ahead
74 -- All-time wins over Vanderbilt. After a victory in Nashville last year in front of a crowd that was decidedly Big Orange, UT stands at 74-29-5 in their 108 overall meetings with Vanderbilt since 1892. The 108 meetings so far are the second-most in any UT series, eclipsed only by 111 games against Kentucky since 1893.
30 -- Wins against Vanderbilt in the last 33 meetings.
4 -- Consecutive wins for Tennessee in November. The Vols are 3-0 this season and won their final game in the month in 2014. The Volunteers are 6-1 over the last two seasons in November.
8 -- All-time wins on Nov. 28, the next time Tennessee takes the field. The Vols have won the last six games played on the date and will look to make it seven on Saturday when it's once again Football Time in Tennessee!
