Tennessee again started fast and got bowl eligible with a 60-14 rout of South Alabama. We review the Vols’ 6th with The Day After.

HOT

The opening drive — For the third straight week Tennessee got out of the gates with a touchdown. It’s the seventh time this season, Josh Heupel’s offense scored on their first possession of the year. Tennessee now has 162 first quarter points.

Hendon Hooker — The quarterback was ok last week against Georgia but left some plays on the field especially in the middle of the field. Hooker was really good Saturday and was fantastic in the middle of the field hitting Cedric Tillman and Princeton Fant for scores in the middle of the field. Hooker finished 17 of 20 for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Negative plays — After a couple of weeks of not playing in the opponents backfield, Tennessee got back to their vertical defensive play recording four sacks and 13 total tackles for loss.

Velus Jones in the return game — Jones had a 33 yard punt return and a 96 yard kick off return for a touchdown. Jones has a great feel in the return game showing great acceleration at times as well as great patience. It was nice to see him not fair catch a kickoff return. He’s very gifted as a return man and it showed Saturday night.

Roman Harrison — Give the defensive end credit. He played his most snaps and had his most productive snaps. Harrison had 6 tackles, 1.5 TFL’s, and 2 quarterback hurries.

NOT

Fourth down defense — Tennessee was really good on third down conversions only allowing one conversion in 16 attempts. The problem was they struggled getting off the field on fourth down. South Alabama came into the game converting over 60% of their fourth down attempts. They upped that percentage Saturday night converting 5 of 7 fourth down attempts.

Special teams awareness — Tennessee allowed a fake punt for a first down that helped get South Alabama’s first touchdown and Mike Ekeler’s unit allowed the Jaguars to recover an onside kick to start the second half. Both should not have been big surprises given the way the game was going. That unit must have much better awareness next week against Vanderbilt.

Hooker to Jones on 3rd and 10 to set up the first score — Tennessee has been really good to start games having now scored on their first possession in 7 of 11 games including their last three. The Vols opening possession dive was 62 yards on 11 plays, but the drive doesn’t end in a touchdown if Hendon Hooker doesn’t hit Velus Jones for 14 yards on 3rd and 10.

Jones goes 96 yards to the house — Tennessee called time outs to try and preserve time on the clock for the offense to put up more points. After South Alabama’s touchdown, Heupel’s offense didn’t get a chance to score thanks to Velus Jones and the Vols kickoff return unit.

Hooker 3rd and 13 scramble — Leading 14-0, Hooker looked dead in the backfield, but his legs bailed out poor pass protection as he was nifty with his feet running for 15 yards and a first down. Hooker hit Cedric Tillman 3 plays later for a 27 yard touchdown over the middle.

Omari Thomas’ TFL on South Alabama’s first possession — Thomas set the tone for the night for the defense with a five yard tackle for loss on the second play from scrimmage making it 3rd and 13 and forcing a punt after an incompletion.

10 for 80 — Tennessee’s tight ends hadn’t been a huge part of the offense in the middle part of the season. Against Georgia they were targeted 6 times and Saturday night they were a huge part of the offensive plan.

5 for 5 — The Vol offense was extremely efficient scoring on their first 7 possessions and not punting till the fourth quarter. The offense was terrific in the redzone going 5 for 5 with 5 touchdowns.

52 — Number of offensive touchdowns this season. And that’s in 11 games. In 2016, they scored 59 in 13 games. In 2007 they scored 52 in 14 games. It’s the third time a Vol offense has scored 50+ touchdowns since 2000.

89 — Number of TFL’s by Tim Banks’ defense this season. The Vols had 13 Saturday night. Tennessee had 100 TFL’s in 2016.

Let’s go with Velus Jones. Hendon Hooker was again good. Cedric Tillman is steady Eddie and has a chance at a 1000 yard season, but Saturday nigh was Velus Jones’ night. Jones had 143 return yards and a touchdown. He had 6 catches for 103 yards to lead the receivers.

The senior has had a really nice year especially after moving to the slot. He continues to be extremely productive for Josh Heupel’s offense.

Two things. One the health of Cade Mays. It seems like he will be doubtful heading into next week. But the biggest question on most people’s mind is where is this team going bowling. Tennessee will be a heavy favorite next week so where does a seven win team land if they can get the win next week? Could Florida be a possibility? Will be it be Nashville? Charlotte? We will see. What we know is that if the Vols can get to 7-5 they will be one of the most attractive teams in the SEC’s bowl pool.