CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Will Grier got his Heisman Trophy campaign off to an impressive start, throwing for 429 yards and five touchdowns as the 17th-ranked Mountaineers pounded Tennessee 40-14 to spoil Jeremy Pruitt’s head coaching debut .
Tennessee defensive tackle Shy Tuttle said the Vols simply didn’t come ready to play in the second half.
“We came out with high intensity in the first half. The second half we just didn’t match the intensity and it got away from us,” Tuttle said.
PRUITT’S FIRST LOSS
Pruitt has won six national championships as a defensive coach, including last year at Alabama. But his Vols had no answer for Grier and the high-powered Mountaineers offense.
Pruitt took blame for his first loss as the head coach.
“How your team plays tells you what kind of coach you are, and their team played better than our team today — so that’s on me,” Pruitt said. “I have to get these guys where they execute at a higher level and they believe in themselves. And I think we will do that.”
JORDAN RUNS
Tim Jordan ran for 118 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown for Tennessee, which had 165 yards rushing on 38 carries.
THE TAKEAWAY
Tennessee: Jarrett Guarantano got the starting nod at quarterback over Keller Chryst and played all but the final series. That could change next week. The Vols had only one passing play of longer than 20 yards under Guarantano, who was limited to 172 yards passing. Pruitt said after the game that Chryst will get a chance to play some next week against East Tennessee State. “We need to play him,” Pruitt said.
UP NEXT:Tennessee returns home to face East Tennessee State on Saturday.
