KNOXVILLE — Late Thursday night, the recently-placed V-O-L-S letters atop Neyland Stadium glowed against a dark September sky. Fans in the stadium’s new lower-club seats, which had sold out long before this weekday matchup, settled in for 13 more minutes of football. The people filtering through the north end zone’s new open bar area, beneath the newly-installed JumboTron, kept talking and sipping their drinks.

With all the fresh features, one may have missed the moment’s true focal point — when Jimmy Holiday sped 62 yards for the game’s final touchdown.

Then again, fans didn’t need to look very far to see what was happening.

Not with the stadium’s two gargantuan flatscreens holding attention during breaks, and certainly not with the same consistent, 2.93-plays-per-minute offense doing what it needed to for all of one half before this Thursday night matchup — a 59-10 Tennessee win over Ball State — had been more than decided.

In short, there was a lot of anticipation building toward this night — and not just because of the V-O-L-S letters (the intro for which was spectacular, by the way) or the new digs set up at different points throughout the stadium.

But because the expectations surrounding this team are as high and as vibrant as the fireworks launched after each and every touchdown the Vols scored on Thursday.

10-2? 8-4? In-between, at 9-3? However you slice it, UT is expected to make a leap this season.

MORE COVERAGE: Key takeaways from Tennessee's rout of Ball State

That expectation was rewarded quickly on Thursday. So quickly, in fact, that only 23 seconds into the game had passed before the Vols provided their first two statements of the night.

Tamarion McDonald, making his first start at the Star position, intercepted Cardinals quarterback John Paddock on the first play from scrimmage, Hendon Hooker found Jalin Hyatt on the next play for a quick score, and Josh Heupel threw his hands in the air, fist-pumping toward a delirious crowd of 92,236.

Year 2 of the Heupel era was underway, and the rout was on and finished in a hurry.

UT racked up 570 yards with four touchdowns from Hooker — 18-for-25 for 221 yards and two scores through the air, two on the ground, all his touchdowns coming in the first half — to lead the Vols into the break with a 38-0 lead.

“Really efficient. In command. In control. Our tempo, run game, decisions, checks, pass game, same thing,” said Heupel. “Structurally, some things we had game-planned for, some things we hadn’t. The adjustments on the sideline he handled in a really good way. Just thought he was in complete command of the football game.”

Hyatt, Holiday and Walker were the only three receivers to catch touchdown passes, but Cedric Tillman led in yards per catch with six grabs for 68 yards. Ramel Keyton fell in line with four grand for 57 yards, Squirrel White caught three passes for 25 yards, Jack Jancek hauled in a Gaston Moore dart for 17 yards, and Bru McCoy — his eligibility saga finally over — snagged three passes for 42 yards.

“Guys have proven that they have the right to have more opportunities than a year ago. Year 1, last year Week 1, we were still finding out a lot about our football team,” summarized Heupel. “We are this year too, but there’s a lot more knowns. A year into it, there are more guys that understand offensively what we’re doing. The ‘why’ behind it.

“We have young guys that came in midyear that have proven and earned the right (to play). We are a deeper football team than we were a year ago.”

Hooker took advantage of that depth all night long and, in doing so, made history. On his first throw of the night, No. 5 tied Tony Robinson with 13 straight games with at least one touchdown pass. He also moved into the top 10 on UT’s career list for passing touchdowns, totaling 33 in his Tennessee career by game’s end.

Tennessee’s defense snagged another first-half interception via Kamal Hadden, as he and McDonald flashed playmaking ability as the two newcomers of the group.

Oh, and that offensive line, the one with four returning starters and a question mark at left tackle between Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford? Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright — 13 touches apiece with 88 and 63 yards, respectively, and one score each — ran behind them just fine, as did freshman tailback Dylan Sampson on the first touchdown of his career.

“The biggest thing for both of those guys is it didn’t matter who was in, you didn’t notice any issues,” said Heupel. “I thought pass protection, they were good. We were really clean all night long. I thought the run game, they did a nice job of creating some movement too.”

There were certainly some concerns through the night, as Joe Milton — whose touch appeared to have improved over the off-season, a note Heupel referenced in his postgame interview — zipped a too-high fastball that should have gone for an easy touchdown.

The Vols gave up 343 yards to the Cardinals, too, and there was a late fumble that Heupel attributed to a poorly-timed mesh point.

UT even struggled a bit on the injury front, as it did not see any playing time from Juwan Mitchell or Dee Williams — both of whom will be “evaluated as (they) get into next week,” said Heupel.

Finally, the Vols failed to record a sack on the night. That task especially will grow far more difficult against USC transfer Kedon Slovis next week at Acrisure Stadium.

Still, on a night that centered around Neyland Stadium’s new features, it was Tennessee’s consistency and improvements that sucked 8,000 more people than last year’s opener into the sea of orange to experience those additions firsthand.

“Hopefully there is a ton of belief, optimism and excitement that surrounds our program,” said Heupel, who quickly corrected himself. “I don’t say hopefully. There is. And you can feel it. We appreciate that.

“Our program, coaches and players, the effort that has gone on in getting to this point, we really appreciate our fans backing us up and coming out in a big way.”

Now, after knocking the first domino on Thursday, it is up to the Vols to continue returning the favor throughout this season.

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