Advanced Box Score: Tennessee 69 Chattanooga 3 (8/30/24)

The day the Vols Chattanooga Choo-Choo-Chose violence

A year ago, Tennessee struggled to put away in-state FCS foe Austin Peay, limping to a 30-13 win.

What a difference a year makes.

Tennessee did not struggle against in-state FCS foe Chattanooga; the noonday sun had barely burned the last wisps of morning fog off of Signal Mountain by the time this game was out of reach for the FCS top-10 ranked Mocs. Do the advanced stats show UT’s dominance as much as the traditional stats do? (They do.)

Five Factor Box Score

Keep in mind these stats filter out garbage time. Against Austin Peay in 2023, the Vols scored 23 points in seven scoring opportunities (a trip inside the opponent 40). That’s 3.29 points per, basically a FG every trip inside the 40. Against the Mocs, UT’s offense hummed—5.64 points per opportunity—nearly a guaranteed TD every time the UTC 40 was crossed.

On top of that, the success rate of 73% and havoc rate of 52% are both insane numbers. Those won’t be that high every game (the most elite offenses have a success rate just over 50% in a season), but they are incredible even in a single-game scenario.

Rushing Report

Obviously Nico was the story of the game, with his school-record-setting 314 yard first half. But Tennessee also ran the ball at-will, not once getting stuffed at the line, always picking up 3-4 yards when needed, and averaging 3.7 yards of open field running per rush. On the other side of the coin, the Vols’ defense shut down the Mocs’ running game, never allowing success on short downs, and not allowing any open field yards.

Usage & PPA

Again, remember these numbers filter out garbage time.

The fact that Nico added 22.2 predicted points with practically all of it being through the air is huge for Tennessee going forward. There was no doubt Nico could beat UTC with his legs (he did it to a much better Iowa team last year), but he needed to show he could sit in the pocket and deliver the ball—and he certainly did. Dylan Sampson carried a lot of the load with his 32% usage rate, and it paid off with his 13.3 PPA. And while it was awesome to see Bru get the most usage out of the WR room, Dont’e Thornton’s 9.2 PPA led the wide outs in production.