LEXINGTON, KY – An impressive and efficient night from quarterback Joey Aguilar led the way in an offensive explosion by No. 17/17 Tennessee in its 56-34 road win at Kentucky on Saturday night at Kroger Field.

Aguilar completed 20 of his 26 pass attempts for a season-high 396 yards and three touchdown passes, while averaging 19.8 yards per completion as the Volunteers (6-2, 3-2 SEC) improved to 17-0 under head coach Josh Heupel when scoring 50 or more points.

UT's 56 points were its most in a Southeastern Conference game since blanking Vanderbilt, 56-0, in the 2022 regular-season finale. Seven different players found the end zone for the Big Orange in Saturday night's triumph over the Wildcats, who fell to 2-5 and 0-5 in league play

The Vols finished with 504 yards of total offense on the night and had three wideouts reach 100 yards receiving in Chris Brazzell II (138), Mike Matthews (107) and Braylon Staley (105), marking the first time they have accomplished that feat since Nov. 23 , 2019 at Missouri when Josh Palmer (124), Jauan Jennings (115) and Marquez Callaway (110) all racked up 100-plus yards through the air.

For the third time this season, all three of the Vols' primary running backs – DeSean Bishop, Star Thomas and Peyton Lewis – scored touchdowns as the Vols rushed for four scores.

UT's defense forced a pair of turnovers, which directly resulted in 14 first-half points. Redshirt-freshman linebacker Edwin Spillman finished with a career-high 15 tackles – including 11 solo stops – to lead all players, while veteran defensive lineman Dominic Bailey had a pair of tackles for loss and a sack. 

The Big Orange wasted little time jumping out to an early lead after Agular threw a 35-yard strike to Brazzell II in the end zone to cap a four-play, 75-yard opening drive.

Following consecutive punts by both teams on the ensuing possessions, sophomore safety Edrees Farooq batted a Cutter Boley pass into the air before intercepting it and racing 45 yards the other way for a touchdown that put UT ahead 14-0 following Max Gilbert's point after attempt. 

Farooq's pick-six marked his first-career interception and defensive touchdown, as well as Tennessee's fifth defensive score of the season, which is tied for the most in the FBS with Louisiana Tech.

The Wildcats answered with a 71-yard catch and run on a screen pass by Kendrick Law for a touchdown to get on the board and cut the deficit to seven, but the Vols responded with back-to-back scoring drives capped by 1-yard touchdown runs from Thomas and Bishop to push their advantage to 28-7 early in the second quarter.

Kentucky punched back with two straight touchdowns of its own on its next two possessions to get it back to a one-score game, but UT executed an impressive drive with under two minutes remaining in the half to regain a 14-point lead heading into the break.

Aguilar went 5-for-7 through the air on the drive, finding Staley for 24 yards down the right sideline before hitting tight end Ethan Davis for a 13-yard touchdown down the seam with five seconds remaining in the half. 

After the defense forced a quick three-and-out to start the second half, the Tennessee offense picked up right where he left off with a pair of unanswered touchdowns to start the third quarter.

Aguilar connected with Matthews for a 62-yard score on UT's opening drive of the half. He then found Brazzell II for a 50-yard completion down the sideline to set up a 2-yard plunge into pay dirt by Lewis a few plays later to give the Vols a commanding 49-21 lead.

The Vols scored on their first three second-half drives and took a knee inside UK's 10-yard line to run out the clock on their fourth and final drive of the half, which ate up the final 8:12 of the clock. Saturday's win was UT's fifth straight in the series and fourth in a row against the Wildcats in Lexington.

Tennessee returns home next Saturday to kick off its November stretch of games when it hosts Oklahoma at Neyland Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on ABC.


Source: Tennessee Athletics