Tennessee 23, Florida 17 (OT): Advanced Box Score
Unfortunately no stats were recorded for the dancing kid
Before I get into any of these numbers or what they mean, please consider the fact that Tennessee just beat Florida for the second time in three years. The only times I could say that in my lifetime prior to today were in 1992 and 2004. No, it wasn’t always pretty. Yes, we all wanted to see UT look like the two-touchdown favorites they were on paper Saturday night.
But they won. There’s plenty of room for improvement. But they won. Tennessee is 5-1 headed into the Third Saturday in October. They’ve got everything to play for in the coming weeks. Don’t lose your focus.
Five Factor Box Score
Florida did a great job of creating scoring opportunities Saturday night, but the Tennessee defense did an even better job of limiting the Gators’ points off those opportunities. Tennessee’s 44% success rate was surprisingly good considering while watching live it felt like the offense was spending most of its time spinning wheels. But just like Florida, UT did not do a great job of turning that success into points. In fact one could easily point to the defensive havoc caused by the Tennessee defense as the key factor in the Vols’ win, with 12 TFLs (3 sacks), a fumble forced & recovered, a pick, and 4 pass break ups disrupting the Florida effort.
Rushing Report
In what are otherwise very even rushing stats you might gloss over the large differences in power success (converting on 3rd/4th and short) and stuff rate (percentage of rush plays stopped at or behind the line). I’d posit that the Vols’ power success was another key in winning the game. Here’s every time Tennessee had a 3rd or 4th and short and chose to run the ball:
Other than Nico’s fumble on the opening drive, Tennessee converted on every 3rd & short or the subsequent 4th & short including an insane conversion on 4th & 1 from the Vols’ own 10 yard line—a play that I’d call a referendum on the Tennessee offensive line.
Player Usage & PPA
Unfortunately for Florida, Graham Mertz’s season came to an end Saturday night, as the Gator QB tore an ACL in the 3rd quarter. UF will have to go the rest of the way with freshman QB DJ Lagway, who has a higher long-term upside, but is not the better QB right now.
PPA is a better team stat than individual stat, however, you can tell a lot about how a player’s night went by looking at his contribution to PPA. Nico, for example, fumbled in the opening drive, accounting for most of his -1.3 PPA in Q1, and went 2-8 passing in the 4th quarter, leading to a -3.4 PPA in the final frame. Dylan Sampson on the other hand rushed 15 times for 85 yards (5.7 per) and 2 TDs in the second half, for a +7 PPA in Q3 and Q4.