Northwestern loses 45-6 to Tennessee

Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, helping the Volunteers rout No. 12 Northwestern 45-6 on Friday. The Volunteers (8-4, 5-3 SEC) are in their second consecutive bowl game after a three-year hiatus and 51st in program history.

Evan Berry made an impact on the game in the final seconds when he intercepted a pass in the end zone and took it 100 yards for a touchdown giving Tennessee a 45-6 lead.

“We talked about ‘T-tough.’ He’s T-tough”, Jones said, with the “T” being Tennessee. We need to continue to develop depth. “We realize our potential”. One, he gives the Vols a running back who can dominate a game. “You try to learn from those and not duplicate the mistakes… and continue to move on and grind”. That game was also the last collegiate game for current Northwestern Head Coach, Pat Fitzgerald. “We’ll get better. I believe that”. “That’s what we expect”. A few plays later the Vols punched it in with a 14-yard scramble from QB Joshua Dobbs.

Wildcat quarterback Clayton Thorson was able to run around the Tennessee defense and orchestrated a 12 play 75 yard touchdown drive to put 6 on the board. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound sophomore ran for 122 yards in the Vols’ victory over Iowa in last year’s TaxSlayer Bowl. Hurd has 2,187 career yards and 17 rushing touchdowns. Shoddy punts gave Tennessee great field position and blown coverages allowed them to march downfield. The Vols, which also missed an early field goal, then added one from Aaron Medley, but then conceded what turned out to be the lone touchdown of the day for Northwestern, allowing the Wildcats to cut the lead to 10-6 in the second quarter.

“This football team defines resolve”, Jones said. “Do we want to be the team that started off 5-0 and beat a team that’s playing in the Rose Bowl?”

Hurd carried 24 times for 130 yards, becoming the first Tennessee back to surpass 100 rushing yards in two bowl games.

There are other reasons besides the win in this year’s Outback Bowl to think that Tennessee will be a player in the division next year. This will be the second time these two teams are going to play a New Year’s Day bowl game, the Volunteers picked up a 48-28 win in the Citrus Bowl in 1997. The Wildcats are 11th in the nation in total defense (30.5 yards per game) and seventh in scoring defense (16.4 per game). On the ground, the Wildcats average 193.2 yards in which Justin Jackson tops with 1,344 yards and four touchdowns. Otherwise, nearly everything went wrong, from junior kicker Jack Mitchell’s missed field goal and extra point to the offensive line’s inability to keep Thorson safe in the pocket.

“A lot of times, particularly being in Knoxville, you can let the noises, the distractions creep in”, Jones said earlier this week. In this instance, there’s a strong chance it’s actually the case, but at the same time, Northwestern is easily the more trustworthy team. “But I’m keeping it in perspective because it should be kept in perspective”.

Tennessee is sixth all-time with 26 bowl wins has not won back-to-back bowl games in this century. “It doesn’t matter what league you’re in, what level you’re at”. In Northwestern’s loss to Michigan, Wolverine QB Jake Rudock threw for exactly 179 yards.

Vols coach Butch Jones said his program was “under construction” after beating Iowa in last January’s Gator Bowl.

That has people taking about a return trip to Tampa.