Seventh-ranked Tennessee averaged 60 points in its first two games, allowing an average of 6.5.
That can’t be a comforting detail for winless Kent State as it faces the Volunteers in Knoxville just one week after losing to FCS program Saint Francis (Pa.).
Tennessee (2-0) rolled over Chattanooga 69-3 in its opener and followed it up by whipping then-No. 24 North Carolina State 51-10 last weekend in Charlotte, N.C.
The Volunteers are gaining 589 yards per game while allowing 185. Opponents have converted just 4 of 26 third-down opportunities.
The trick for Tennessee is figuring out how to take Kent State seriously after the Golden Flashes fell 23-17 to the Red Flash.
“You can go back and look at the scores from across America each week and there’s examples of guys that didn’t prepare, didn’t practice right, didn’t have the right competitive spirit to go take advantage of the next opportunity,” Volunteers coach Josh Heupel said. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it. There’s very few opportunities, this is our next one — gotta be ready to go take advantage of it.”
Kent State coach Kenni Burns knows the deck is stacked against his team but promises that his club will fight.
“I still believe in our football team,” Burns said. “I still think they’re extremely talented. I think this is a great youthful moment for these guys to learn how to handle adversity and respond.
“We didn’t play well enough to win. All it is is they’re 0-1 in the Saint Francis season. That is it. They have to move on and respond.”
Tennessee redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava is completing 74.5 percent of his passes and has five touchdown passes. But he also threw two interceptions in the rout of NC State.
Heupel watched Iamaleava closely after the picks and liked his body language.
“We don’t want to turn the ball over,” Heupel said. “You’d like to have a couple of those back, but I think one thing we learned about him is how he’s going to respond to something that doesn’t go positive, and doesn’t go his way. And he came back and played the next play independently, played like the first play again.”
Dylan Sampson is averaging 8.0 yards per carry while topping 100 rushing yards in both games. He has 256 yards and five touchdowns.
Kent State was routed 55-24 by host Pitt in its season opener before the humbling home loss to Saint Francis. It was the first time the Red Flash have ever defeated a FBS program.
So the Golden Flashes now attempt to move on. And Burns knows one area in which the club needs to improve immediately — running the football.
Kent State is averaging just 1.7 yards per carry and 54.5 yards per game. Leading rusher Ky Thomas has 79 yards with 32 coming on one play.
“We gotta run the ball,” Burns said. “We gotta figure out how to run the ball better up front and with our running backs. There were glimpses of hope, but still not what I expect it to be.
“I don’t want to be a team that throws it 50 times a game. To me, that’s not championship football.”
Golden Flashes quarterback Devin Kargman is averaging 33 attempts per game. He has passed for 374 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Kameron Olds is standing out on defense with a team-best three sacks.
This is the first meeting between the schools.
–Field Level Media