Tennessee's offense might have captured something in the second half of its win against Alabama last Saturday that it wants to cling to during the bye week.
The Vols put on another stagnant offensive display in the first half for the third-straight games, only to overcome it with enough plays that showcased what they were expected to be before the season began on that side of the ball.
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Nico Iamaleava, who had missed on a few potential game-changing throws and made one ill-advised throw that resulted in an interception deep in plus territory, was on one end of two plays in the second half that headlined Tennessee's 24-17 triumph of the Crimson Tide and kept its College Football Playoff hopes intact.
The first was a 55-yard pass to Dont'e Thorton Jr. that set up a game-tying touchdown in the third quarter. The second was his 16-yard toss to a diving Chris Brazzell II, who earlier in the fourth quarter dropped a deep ball down the sideline but snagged this one for the game winner in the final five minutes.
Those two plays and others might have been an indication of what head coach Josh Heupel has said the last three weeks: The Vols are close.
"I don’t think anything (the offense did anything) super different (in the second half)," Heupel said. "Missed a couple throws over the middle. Some of that’s the windows being tight and maybe the timing being off just a little bit with the wide receiver getting his eyes around. It’s all part of it. I do think settling in, being able to push back on everything that hadn’t gone right in the first half shows growth.
"But it shows you what (Iamaleava) is made up of on the inside, too, mentally and just his heart and competitive makeup.”
Iamaleava's has played to mix results as Tennessee's full-time starting quarterback. There have been times where he very much looks like a player that has just eight games under his belt. Inconsistencies on the offensive line and at wide receiver have played a part in that.
Then there are times when he looks every bit the part of one of the best young quarterbacks in the country coming out of high school two years ago. The throw to Thornton was one of those moments.
He rolled out of the pocket and hit Thornton in stride while moving to the right side of the field in a sequence that can be pin-pointed as the play that brought the offense to life and bolstered Iamaleava's confidence.
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"I think it’s tough when you play that position, and that’s whether you’re young or you’ve played a lot of football, but certainly when you’re young, when things aren’t going well, you can hear certain members of the crowd," Heupel said. "You’ve made some mistakes, which happens in this game when you play that position. You’ve got the ball in your hand every time. You’ve missed some throws. You’ve turned it over. We haven’t moved the ball. Whatever it is, the quarterback takes ownership of all of that, and when it’s not going well, I describe it as it feels like the walls are kind of pressing in on you.
“To have the courage, the strength, the fortitude to push back on it and go play really good football – not perfect, but really good football – and find a way to come away with the win, you’ve got to be a tough, tough dude mentally and physically to withstand all of that. It’s one of the real positives that you take away from the game with Nico.”
The next challenge for Iamaleava--and the rest of the offense--is to capture that momentum.
Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) is on its second of two bye weeks, getting a week off before hosting Kentucky (3-4, 1-4) on Nov. 2. The emphasis this week has been about maintaining the tempo that the Vols played with over the last two quarters against Alabama.
"Really honing in the details and taking the time to take a step forward not a step back and make sure that we're keeping our eyes on what's important and taking advantage of this time, get your body right but also get your mind right to refocus for next week because it's still a big game coming up," wide receiver Bru McCoy said. "Just coming off the field (Wednesday), we definitely did a really good job of attention, speed of how we play ball and then just correcting our mistakes as we go."
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Tennessee is also looking to not repeat past mistakes out of its last bye week.
The Vols got off to a stellar start offensively, showing shades of their record-setting production two years ago in the first three games. It was in the second half of Tennessee's 25-15 win over Oklahoma that the pace started to slow down.
It caught up with the Vols two weeks later at Arkansas when the Vols went scoreless in the first half and were unable to put the game away despite a two score lead in the second half in a 19-14 defeat.
“There’s multiple reasons for us not executing the way that we needed to on game day (at Arkansas), us controlling what we can control," Heupel said. "Point of emphasis is us continuing to get better as a football team, and that’s always the case, but certainly pointed those things out (Tuesday) as our guys came into the building.
"At the end of the day, you’re in the middle of your conference season and a lot of football to be played. We’ve got to take steps to play our best.”
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