Think of the best-case scenarios Tennessee fans were contemplating this spring after former five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava bolted for UCLA and was replaced by former Diablo Valley Community College and Appalachian State quarterback Joey Aguilar.
Aguilar has surpassed even the most optimistic of them.
The No. 15 Volunteers have finished the first third of their regular season, which will be the only regular season with the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from Antioch, California, at the helm. Four games is a solid enough sample size, and Aguilar has completed 78 of 117 passes (66.7%) for 1,124 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Only two Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks have more touchdowns than Aguilar, and his efficiency rating of 176.08 ranks 12th nationally.
“It’s been amazing,” Aguilar said after Saturday’s 56-24 thrashing of the University of Alabama at Birmingham about his start with the Vols. “You’ve just got to embrace it and have fun with it. All the stress that we did to come here is gone, and we have the ability to go out there and play for Tennessee and play for the fans and just go out there and do what we do.
“Good plays happen and bad plays happen. You’ve just got to keep pushing through and keep playing and keep smiling.”
Aguilar certainly has Tennessee’s fan base smiling as the Vols begin a stretch of five straight games against Southeastern Conference opponents beginning with Saturday’s trip to Mississippi State.
His debut game against an SEC foe yielded a 371-yard, four-touchdown performance in a 44-41 overtime loss to Georgia on Sept. 13. In Aguilar’s biggest possession of the season so far, which followed the Bulldogs pulling into a 38-38 tie with 2:32 remaining in regulation, he orchestrated a 14-play, 50-yard drive in which three third-down opportunities were converted.
The Vols drove to Georgia’s 20-yard line before they were penalized for a false start and missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt.
“What I love about him is whether it’s a good play or a bad play or a good series or a bad series, it’s the same demeanor,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “He’s aggressive, but he’s playing smart football.”
Mississippi State completed a sweep of its four nonconference opponents with Saturday’s 38-10 dumping of Northern Illinois, already doubling the win total of last year’s 2-10 record in coach Jeff Lebby’s debut season in Starkville.
The Bulldogs, who also have a victory over reigning Big 12 champion Arizona State, led 14-10 at halftime before dominating the final 30 minutes.
“I think we’ve got a tough football team,” Lebby said. “We’ve got a team that will respond the right way when things aren’t perfect. There have been those moments in a lot of different ways, and our guys have responded the right way.
“Good football teams do that. Tough football teams do that, and we’re going to have to continue to trend that way to go get done what we want to get done.”
Bulldogs sophomore running back Fluff Bothwell — what a great name — rushed 17 times for 101 yards (5.9 per carry) for his first 100-yard performance as an SEC running back. Bothwell had four 100-yard games last season as a South Alabama freshman.
Here is some early trivia concerning this Saturday’s showdown between No. 17 Alabama and No. 5 Georgia at Sanford Stadium (7:30 p.m. on ABC): Who were the two starting quarterbacks the last time Georgia defeated Alabama in Athens?
The answer is at the end of the column.
Oops.
Oklahoma defeated Auburn 24-17 in Norman on Saturday, with Sooners receiver Isaiah Sategna scoring the game’s first touchdown early in the second quarter after appearing to leave the field of play. He stopped short of the sideline before racing down the field after the snap and being all alone for a 24-yard score.
“I better be quiet,” Tigers coach Hugh Freeze said afterward when asked about the play. “They said they didn’t hear us trying to ask for a timeout. We were instructed all offseason about deception plays and things, so we’ll see what’s said.
“I really don’t know what will be said about that.”
A couple hours after the outcome, the SEC released a statement that called out the officiating crew for missing the “hideout tactic” used by the Sooners.
“If properly officiated, the second down play should have resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of 15 yards assessed from the previous spot,” the conference said. “Appropriate accountability will be applied without additional comment.”
The biggest highlight of Vanderbilt’s 7-6 season a year ago was unquestionably the 40-35 knocking off of top-ranked Alabama, while the low point was a 36-32 loss at Georgia State.
Vandy hosted the Panthers in Saturday night’s rematch, and the Commodores scored touchdowns on all six of their first-half possessions in an eventual 70-21 demolition.
“I’m proud of our team,” coach Clark Lea said. “I’m proud of the effort. We played the game the right way, and the game honors toughness. We did not forget that game from a year ago and how painful that was.
“Tonight was our night.”
The Commodores had not reached the 70-point threshold since 1918, when they defeated Tennessee’s Student Army Training Corps 76-0. Tennessee suspended varsity football during the 1917-18 seasons, when the majority of its roster was called into service amid World War I.
The inconsistent start to this season for Texas redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning has been well-documented, but Manning carved up the Sam Houston Bearkats on Saturday night by rushing for two touchdowns and completing 18 of 21 passes for 303 yards and three scores.
Manning’s first rushing score during the 55-0 blowout came at the end of the first quarter, and it ended with him staring down at Antavious Fish after the linebacker’s unsuccessful tackle attempt.
“It was probably a little much there,” Manning admitted afterward. “My mom was pretty mad about that. It was a little much, but I think there was built-up frustration from the past two weeks.”
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer didn’t need long to pinpoint the stat of the game after Saturday night’s 29-20 loss at Missouri.
“When you get outrushed 285 to minus-9, you’re not going to win,” he said.
LaNorris Sellers getting sacked five times for 46 yards factored into that total, while Mizzou was again led by sophomore Ahmad Hardy, who had 22 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown. Hardy, a transfer from Louisiana-Monroe, is averaging 7.6 yards per carry this season and is one of two FBS running backs already with 600 yards.
“I didn’t think he was going to be this good,” Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “The dude is running through people like a dump truck. He’s a Clydesdale amongst a bunch of fillies. It’s unbelievable.”
Ole Miss is the SEC’s only 2-0 team in league play, but the Rebels had their most impressive outing of the season with a 45-10 shellacking of Tulane that was 45-3 with five minutes remaining.
Only two teams from Group of Five conferences — Boise State and South Florida — have been ranked this season, and Sunday’s latest Associated Press poll was the second straight without Group of Five representation. The Green Wave, who compete in the American Conference, finished the 2022 season ranked 16th and were ranked for parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but Saturday’s result won’t stack up well given that Lane Kiffin’s Rebels have one-possession wins over Kentucky and Arkansas.
“This was really relieving,” Kiffin said. “Tulane is a good team and a good program. If you look at their games, this usually doesn’t happen.”
Arkansas hosts Notre Dame this week, but the Razorbacks will do so with a 2-2 record following a 32-31 setback at Memphis in which they lost on a fumble at the 9-yard line of the Tigers with 1:18 remaining.
After surrendering 475 yards during their 41-35 loss at Ole Miss, the Hogs yielded 489 at Memphis.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said coach Sam Pittman, who guided the Razorbacks to a 9-4 mark in 2021 but is 20-22 since. “We tried to fix some things defensively from a week ago, but I don’t know how much we got fixed, to be honest with you. We’ve got to get to work.”
Florida fell to 1-3 for the first time since 1986 with Saturday night’s 26-7 loss at Miami.
Abysmal doesn’t even begin to describe the Gators offensively against the Hurricanes, as they were held to seven first downs, 141 yards and an 0-for-13 clip on third-down conversions. The first half was especially brutal, as Florida had 5 yards in the first quarter and 27 in the second.
“The first half was a trial of errors,” Florida coach Billy Napier said after falling to 21-23 in his fourth season in Gainesville. “There were not many plays that we executed well at all. We had mental errors in protection on third down and really struggled to stack any good plays together.
“We had four three-and-outs and six punts in the first half.”
The Gators are now 0-12 under Napier against ranked foes away from the Swamp.
Georgia’s last triumph over Alabama in Athens occurred Oct. 4, 2003, when the Bulldogs scored 31 points in the second quarter to build a 37-10 halftime lead before cruising to a 37-23 win.
David Greene was a redshirt junior in his third season as the starting quarterback for Mark Richt’s Bulldogs, while making his first career start for an injured Brodie Croyle for Mike Shula’s Crimson Tide was redshirt sophomore Spencer Pennington.
Alabama and Georgia have met in Sanford Stadium just twice since that meeting, with the Tide winning decisively in 2008 and 2015.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.