A tale of two halves that saw Jarrett Guarantano again in relief and some unlikely heroes lead the Vols to victory #5. We review Tennessee's 17-13 win over Kentucky with The Day After.

HOT

Marquez Callaway — The senior had 4 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. Callaway has always been the Vols best deep ball threat and Saturday night Jim Chaney dialed him up. He had one first half catch for 34 yards. In the third quarter he had a 33 yard and 17 yard catch for a score on the Vols opening possession. His final catch went for 19 yards. Callaway boxes out and high points the ball as well as anyone has in a while in the orange and white. Saturday night, he fueled the Vols third quarter rally.

Henry To’oTo’o — The Vol freshman continues to do upperclassmen things. The linebacker had 8 tackles including a huge tackle for loss in the Vols goal line stand. He did that after leaving the game in the first half with a knee injury that caused him to have an x-ray. The negative test result meant he braced up the knee and went back to work. He’s only going to continue to get better and by the way, he’s pretty good now.

Ja’Quan Blakely— The defensive lineman had one assisted tackle, but it was the game winner for the Vols. Blakley would have gotten Lynn Bowden on the ground, but Daniel Bituli made sure of it with his 19th tackle of the night (more on him in a bit). Blakely plays sparingly but played the sprint option perfectly on 4th and goal at the 2 to give the Vols the win.

Jeremy Pruitt at the half —The head coach was hot at halfitme. Pruitt made it clear in his Vol Network half time interview that he was unhappy with quarterback Brian Maurer and that the freshman was going to the bench. He also told his defensive ends, that their first half play was the worst he had ever seen. Obviously, the half time adjustments were good and making the quarterback switch was definitely the right move.

NOT

The first quarter — It was a trainwreck in all three phases of the game. Tennessee had a punt blocked. Defensively they gave up 112 yards as Kentucky held the ball 12:23. Offensively they had 3 yards on six snaps and the scoreboard said 13-0 Kentucky. It was a horrible start for this team. But give them credit for their adjustments and for continuing to battle.

Discipline —Offsides, covering up the tight end to negate a touchdown, pile diving for a 15 yard penalty, roughing the passer. Even a strength coach got a 15 yard penalty. Tennessee finished the night with 6 penalties for 56 yards and made life harder on themselves. This has been pretty good team in terms of penalty discipline outside of Alabama, but they did themselves no favors Saturday night.

3rd and goal/4th and goal — After a substitution penalty move the ball from the 2 to the 1, the Vols looked dead in the water with 2:00 minutes to play, but Henry To’oTo’o stuffed Chris Rodriguez for a loss of one and then on fourth down Blakely and Bituli stopped Bowden for no gain to turn the ‘Cats away and preserve the win.

Gurantano’s bootleg —With 1:08 to play, and facing 3rd and 4 at their own 8. Tennessee needed a first down to run out the clock. Jim Chaney dialed up a gem on a bootleg that Guarantano turned into a 10 yard gain, a first down and the victory formation.

Josh Palmer’s toe tap — On 2nd and 7 from the 12, Guarantano threw a fade to Palmer that only Palmer could get and the Florida native found enough green turf to get his toe down in the end zone for a 12 yard score, the lead and eventual game winner.

Darel Middleton’s PAT block — Few saw it as a huge play at the time, but it turned out to be the difference in the game. Because of the block Tennessee had a 4 point lead instead of a 3 point lead meaning Kentucky couldn’t choose to kick a field goal and tie the game in the closing minutes. The play happen nearly hours earlier but turned out to be a key in how Kentucky had to play their final drive.

79% — Jarrett Guarantano’s completion percentage in the second half of the Vols last four wins. In those 4 victories where he has come on in relief, Guarantano is 23-29 for 280 yards and 5 td’s in the second half. Saturday night he was 7 for 8 for 115 yard and 2 touchdowns.

46 —Number of tackles by Daniel Bituli over the last five games. The senior is playing his best football. Jeremy Pruitt gushed over his linebacker following the win and Matthew Butler called him the glue to the defense. He was impressive Saturday night with 19 tackles.

6 — Opponents have now punted on their opening possession of the second half in the last six games. Tennessee has outscored teams 41-7 in the third quarter the last six weeks. The numbers speak to the adjustments being made at the half.

10 —Number of tackles in a 25 career games by Ja’Quain Blakely. He now has 8 this season, but his assisted tackle Saturday night was the biggest of his career as it gave the Vols the victory

I’m giving out two game balls. One to Jarrett Guarantano and one to Daniel Bituli. Bituli has said since the pre-season that he understands this defense so much better this year and it’s showing. Bituli was terrific Saturday night in Lexington. He spoke this week about how this was the biggest game and that there was no reason to talk about bowl games and things like that. He backed up that focus talk with 19 tackles.

And what can you say about Jarrett Guarantano, who finally admitted until the last couple of weeks this has been the most awful football season of his life; yet, the redshirt junior will not quit. He will not let losing the starting job affect him. He prepares to play every week and has been ready when his number has been called. In the second half Saturday night, he’s never been better. Guarantano went 7 for 8 for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns. He led the team in rushing with 30 yards on six carries. His down field throws were accurate. His feel in the pocket was terrific and the Vols are one game from bowl eligibility because of the quarterback that got benched. Oh and he's doing it with a broken hand.

Hello open date. Hello off-days, rest and recovery. Tennessee was beat up heading into the Kentucky game. They left more beat up. So this week is about trying to get healthy.

The question is how healthy can they get. Can they get Darnell Wright back? Can Wayna Morris get back to 100%? Can Bryce Thompson get his knee healthy enough to manage it through the rest of the season? Can Henry T get back to 100%? Same for Aubrey Solomon and many others.

The timing of the open date is perfect for this team. The question is can how healthy can get be in two weeks when they go to Missouri.

The other question/concern is can this team finish. They were 5-5 a season ago with two games to play and were embarrassed by both Missouri and Vanderbilt. Can they fix that this season? If they can, it could mean a trip to Florida for the post-season. But the question is have they learned from last year from the head coach to the players and can they avoid the same fate this season?