The 2025 season got off to a good start on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as Tennessee knocked off Syracuse 45-26. The Vols rolled up 494 yards of total offense, split evenly at 247 each on the ground and through the air.
Joey Aguilar started off his Tennessee career with an impressive performance, going 16/28 passing for 247 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added 34 rushing yards on 6 carries with a long of 25. Star Thomas led all UT ballcarriers with 92 yards on 11 carries. Braylon Staley had 95 receiving yards on 4 catches, 73 of them coming on a long touchdown in the second quarter.
It was a terrific start for Tennessee, as the Vols jumped out to a 17-0 first quarter lead on the strength of their first two drives of the game -a 59-yard field goal drive followed by a methodical 12-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard Peyton Lewis run where he bowled over a defender in the hole at the goal line. After fumbling a handoff, Nathan Robinson forced a fumble of QB Steve Angeli, and Colton Hood scooped it up and ran it in for the early three-score lead.
Syracuse’s offense came to life somewhat at that point, as they started to match Tennessee score for score for much of the rest of the game. An 11-play, 75-yard drive got them on the board, but Tennessee answered right back with a 73-yard bomb from Aguilar to Staley, and a lot of that yardage came through the air, for a 24-7 lead. After a couple of punts, Syracuse brought the game close again on a 3-yard pass to Johntay Cook. Tennessee pushed the lead right back to 17 at the break with an impressive two-minute drive, going 75 yards in 6 plays and bowling in for a one-yard DeSean Bishop touchdown after a prior touchdown was taken off the board by review.
The second half started off perfectly, with Jalen McMurray blitzing and deflecting a pass that Jeremiah Telander dove and intercepted in the red zone. 7 plays later, Aguilar rolled left and delivered a strike to Thoms in the end zone for a 38-14 lead.
It appeared the Vols were going to run away and hide, but that’s when they took the foot off the gas a bit, it seemed. The Vols went 3, 4, and 4 and out on their next three drives, while the Cuse put together 12 and 14 play touchdown drives over that span to draw the score to 38-26 with 11:54 left in the game. Tennessee would once again punt it away thereafter, making things uncomfortably close after having a huge lead.
However, the Vols defense forced a three and out after McMurry sacked Angeli deep in their own territory, and Tennessee finally put in the dagger with 4 minutes left. Aguilar found TE Miles Kitselman in the back of the end zone for a two-yard score, and any lingering nerves were gone. Syracuse mounted one more drive, but a pass breakup on fourth down with under 2 minutes left ended that.
Next up for Tennessee is ETSU on Saturday, September 6 in the home opener.