Tennessee Football: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss to Kentucky

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Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano (2) hands the ball off to Tennessee running back Ty Chandler (8) during a SEC conference football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats held at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, October 17, 2020. Kns Ut Football Kentucky Bp /

1. The run game for both teams is strong enough

Both of these teams had a successful running game throughout the matchup.

Let’s start with Kentucky again, because winners go first. Kentucky running backs and Terry Wilson combined for 187 yards on the ground, led by Christopher Rodriguez Jr. who has 73 yards and one of the Wildcats’ two touchdowns. That running game supplemented an anemic passing game from Kentucky that only had 15 pass attempts.

For Tennessee, I’m not sure why they throw the ball sometimes as their running game averaged almost 5.0 yards a carry. Between Eric Gray and Ty Chandler, there were 179 yards and a touchdown. They threw the ball 26 times with 15 completions and 112 passing yards. Not a single passing touchdown was thrown.

The Volunteer running game is sadly supplemented by a passing game that barely exists and struggles to hold onto the ball, so they are struggling to be successful in running a full-on offense.

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