Halftime Thoughts: Tennessee-Purdue

The Vols are trailing 23-21 at half against Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Some quick halftime thoughts are below.

The Tennessee Volunteers (7-5, 4-4 SEC) are trailing the Purdue Boilermakers (8-4, 6-3 B10) by the score of 23-21 at halftime in Nissan Stadium in the Music City Bowl. Below are a few thoughts from the first half of play. 

Let's start with the beginning, but the story of the first half for Tennessee is the second quarter, as the first half showing from Tennessee featured two totally different efforts in each quarter, as the second quarter is the reason the Vols trail at half. 

The Tennessee Early Speed and Execution is Alive and Well in Nashville

The Vols deferred to the second half, and on their first drive, the Boilermakers turned it over on downs in Tennessee territory. The Vols took over near midfield and took advantage of the good field position, as Hendon Hooker hit Cedric Tillman on the fourth play of the drive for a 41 yard score. The ball was a tad under thrown, but Tillman used his muscle to win the battle and add another highlight reel to his breakout season. 

If that was not enough for Tillman, he nabbed another touchdown on the Vols third drive of the game. This time it took Tennessee all of two plays to go 63 yards and find the end zone. The catch put Tillman well over 1,000 yards on the season, as he had 102 yards on his first two catches. No. 4 needed 69 yards to hit the century mark on the season today. 

Tennessee scored only scored on three of their seven first half drives. But on those drives, Tennessee ran a combined 14 plays for 198 yards and three touchdowns in three minutes and 25 seconds. All scoring drives for the Vols in the first half happened in the first quarter

A brilliant stat courtesy CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli on Tennessee's ability to start fast is below. 

Tennessee has now scored 190 first quarter points this season. No other team in the country has scored more than 149 (Georgia).

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 30, 2021

However, as Tennessee does from time to time, the second quarter saw Tennessee slow down.

Second Quarter Slowdown

Tennessee followed up their explosive start with a cold, scoreless second quarter. And it could have been avoided if Hendon Hooker had sit some open receivers, particularly on their third drive of the second quarter. Velus Jones Jr. and Cedric Tillman were both open for what would have been touchdowns on back-to-back plays for Tennessee in Purdue territory on the third drive in the second quarter, but Hooker underthrew Velus and was simply off-target on his throw to Tillman. 

Purdue has done a fine job stopping the run, as Jabari Small is averaging a mere 3.7 yards per carry in the first half. Hendon Hooker has been efficient and physical on the ground, having ran for 28 yards on six carries so far, but the missed throws allowed Purdue to hang around and eventually take the lead. 

Aidan O'Connell has feasted on a semi-depleted Tennessee secondary, as Alontae Taylor and Brandon Turange are unavailable. O'Connell went for 276 yards passing and two touchdowns on 14 completions in the first half. Tennessee offense must step it up to give the defense some breaks, as the Hendon Hooker fumble after a long Boilermaker drive late in the second quarter spelled disaster for Tennessee's defense, and Purdue capitalized with a score to take the lead. 

Tennessee has held Purdue to three field goals, but the cold, seemingly lost offensive showing in the second frame was detrimental for the Vols on both sides of the ball. 

It will be interesting to see if Josh Heupel adjusts the offensive play calling in the second half to attend to Hooker's difficulties, as deep shots have not been as automatic for Hendo Cinco in Nashville as they usually are. Either way, with some key pieces missing on the defense, the offense has to find a way to help them out.