A 30-minute weather delay and an uncharacteristic start on offense put a damper on Tennessee's home opener against on Austin Peay on Saturday.
Dropped passes and an inability to finish red zone drives in touchdowns allowed the Governors to hang around a little longer than expected but a strong close to the first half and an early touchdown drive in the third quarter was enough to give No. 9 Tennessee a 30-13 win at Neyland Stadium.
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Offensively, Tennessee finished with 447 total yards and quarterback Joe Milton III was 21-of-33 passing for 228 yards and two touchdowns with another on the ground.
Coming off of a strong showing in the opener against Virginia last week, the Vols' (2-0) defense allowed 339 yards for Austin Peay (0-2), which continued to hang around into the fourth quarter.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Austin Peay was aggressive early, using its own tempo on offense and reaching the Tennessee 25-yard line on a quarterback Mike DiLiello 45-yard run on fourth-and-2.
A blindside block call on the following play pushed the Govs back and they settled for a field goal to give the Vols their first deficit of the season at 3-0.
Tennessee's first two drives ended in punts, but Jackson Ross' second punt was muffed at the 13 and recovered by Warren Burrell to set the offense up within striking distance. The Vols evened the score with a Charles Campbell field goal.
Tennessee leaned heavily on its run game on its fourth drive, starting with a Jabari Small run across the 50. Small powered the Vols into the red zone but a fourth down pass from Milton to Dont'e Thornton was batted away for turnover on downs.
Austin Peay responded with a lengthy drive that included multiple third down conversions. The Govs reclaimed the lead at 6-3 on Maddux Trujillo's second field goal with less than nine minutes left in the half.
Small continued to make the most out of his carries, using another run to quickly get Tennessee inside the Austin Peay 40, then two quick screen passes to McCoy again put the Vols on the doorstep but an offensive pass interference and holding penalty sent them backwards.
Campbell remained the lone scoring producer, connecting from 37 yards out to tie it for a second time at 6-6.
Tennessee's defense forced a three-and-out and Milton made quick work of the two-minute drill. The Vols reached the red zone again and paid it off with their first touchdown, a 6-yard keeper from Milton to go up 13-6 at halftime.
Tennessee opened the second half in similar fashion with Wright getting the ball on the first four plays. Milton capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ramel Keyton to extend its lead to 20-6 just a minute and a half into the third.
The Vols' offense still struggled to find a rhythm and a Keyton fumble on a play that went for plus yardage gave Austin Peay new life. In the fourth, DiLiello hit Trey Goodman on a 52-yard pass after Doneiko Slaughter slipped and left him streaking open for a touchdown to cut Tennessee's lead to 23-13.
Needing an answer, Milton linked up with tight end McCallan Castles and he raced 42 yards down the sideline to all but the put the score out of reach with eight minutes to go.
PLAYS OF THE GAME
Tennessee finally hit pay dirt in the red zone late in the first half, scoring on Milton's touchdown run to take the lead for good.
Austin Peay was driving after forcing Tennessee to punt on its second drive of the third and was in Vols' territory down just two scores. On fourth-and-3, Wesley Walker sacked DiLiello. Tennessee scored a field goal on the ensuing drive.
Castles was expected to make up for the versatility lost in Princeton Fant at the tight end position last season and made his first impact play with the 43-yard touchdown that swelled Tennessee's lead to three scores late.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Campbell didn't get a chance to kick a field goal in his Tennessee debut against Virginia last week but the Indiana transfer was responsible for much of the Vols' scoring production in the first half, finishing 3-of-3.
Running back Jaylen Wright led Tennessee and rushing with 115 yards vs. Virginia and provided the Vols' offense with a shot in the arm out of the gate in the third quarter. He totaled 118 yards on 13 carries.
Linebacker Aaron Beasley spent much of the game in the Austin Peay backfield. He had a team-high five tackles for loss, one of which was a sack to snuff out a Austin Peay fourth down attempt in the third quarter.
UP NEXT
Tennessee will play its first true road game next Saturday in its SEC opener at Florida.
The Vols haven't won in Gainesville since 2003 but beat the Gators 38-33 at Neyland Stadium last season.
Florida (1-1) lost at No. 14 Utah in Week 1 and beat McNeese State on Saturday.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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