KNOXVILLE — Mike Matthews caught two touchdown passes from Faizon Brandon during Tennessee’s 56-9 whipping of Furman on Saturday afternoon inside Neyland Stadium.
One he had to work for. The other was a cakewalk.
Three plays into the second half, Brandon showed more than just an ability to run and throw, providing a brilliant play-fake that brought in the Paladins defense. That left Matthews, arguably the fastest player on Tennessee’s team, with nothing but open field and a 55-yard scoring reception that put the Volunteers up 35-0.
“It was really just off of our play-action and me just attacking the safety with speed and him not understanding whether it was going to be a run or a pass,” Matthews said. “The safety usually just plays down into it. I think we repped it two times in practice, and it played out the same way with the same result.
“So I was confident going into the play.”
Matthews caught the ball at Furman’s 26 and was able to stroll into the end zone.
“It’s heavy play-action right there where you make the safety think it’s a run, and then it’s Mike just doing what he does outside,” Brandon said. “I just let him go make a play.”
Matthews added a 57-yard touchdown reception two minutes later, wrestling the ball away from a Paladins defender at the 12. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior from Atlanta had four catches for 132 yards and the two scores.
Teaming together
This time last year, Tennessee senior linebacker Amare Campbell and junior defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam were Penn State teammates.
In their Southeastern Conference debut, Campbell finished with six tackles and had a huge fourth-down stuff midway through the first quarter, while Gilliam matched those six tackles with five of them going for lost-yardage stops, including three sacks.
Campbell and Gilliam were asked afterward whether Saturday’s experience had any surreal feeling to it.
“I wouldn’t say it feels surreal, but there are some things we’ve talked about last season going into this season,” Campbell said. “To be honest, it feels pretty normal to me.”
Said Gilliam: “It kind of feels like déjà vu.”
Early struggles
Tennessee senior center Sam Pendleton was held out of the opener with an undisclosed injury, with Viks sixth-year he coach Josh Heupel expecting him to be available for next Saturday night’s game at Georgia Tech.
Sophomore Nic Moore started for Pendleton on an offensive line that took some time to get going, which was reflected by Tennessee leading only 7-0 after the first 15 minutes.
“There were a couple of things I didn’t like,” Heupel said. “We had a false start, and in the fourth quarter we had a bad snap. Early in the game, we had a little bit of a communication issue and things we have to clean up.
“We also created some big plays and ran it efficiently most of the day.”
The Vols wound up compiling 638 total yards, with 329 coming on the ground. They also allowed only one sack.
Odds and ends
The Vols improved to 98-26-6 all-time in season openers. … Justin Baker’s 73-touchdown run with 11:40 remaining that put Tennessee up 56-9 was the longest run by a Vols player since Jaylen Wright’s 82-yarder against UConn in 2023. … Precisely 37 players made their Tennessee debut, including 19 true freshmen. Two of those freshmen were former Baylor School tackle Gabe Osenda and defensive back Jamyan Theodore, with Theodore tallying a tackle. … The Vols have surpassed 600 offensive yards 11 times under Heupel. … Tennessee’s 43 passing yards allowed are the fewest since the Vols held Kentucky to 25 aerial yards in 2019. … Dolly Parton’s “Tennessee Mountain Home” was played over the loudspeakers at the start of the fourth quarter.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.