CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The orange blurs came fast, far too fast, swirling around NC State quarterback Grayson McCall and the rapidly disintegrating pocket supposed to protect him. (“Supposed to” being the operative phrase.) At the very least, McCall tried to climb out of that chaos, desperately scanning for an exit like a toddler lost in a house of mirrors.
But then, just like a disoriented child, came the inevitable thud. In this case, it was Tennessee defensive end Dominic Bailey slamming into McCall, tossing the 6-foot-3, 220-pound passer to the Bank of America turf like a ragdoll. As he did, the football popped loose, and Bailey had the quick intuition to hop on it.
A strip sack and fumble recovery all in one, wrapped up nicely with a bow.
Just a hunch here? That won’t be the Vols’ last such play this season.
Because in No. 14 Tennessee’s eventual 51-10 beatdown of No. 24 NC State — which, no, is not a typo — the Vols’ defense, and defensive line in particular, looked every bit as good as its glistening offseason advertising. That unit rendered the Wolfpack, a dark horse College Football Playoff contender, completely inept. And Dave Doeren’s team isn’t without offensive talent; it has a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year at quarterback, an All-ACC honoree at running back (Jordan Waters), a freshman All-American and the ACC’s reigning Rookie of the Year at receiver (Kevin Concepcion), and four returning starters along the offensive line.
And yet, none of it mattered, not even a smidge. Tennessee’s defense held the Wolfpack without an offensive touchdown and to a measly 143 total yards, including a miserable 2.9 yards per play. NC State’s 28 rushes went for a whopping 39 yards — which included a 15-yard long by Hollywood Smothers, whose surname aptly describes what the Vols did to NC State’s ground game. (Poor Waters, whose seven carries went for… minus-4 yards.)
The stats — sparkling for UT, nightmarish for NC State — go on. Counting Bailey’s third-quarter takedown, the Vols had three sacks, 13 (!!) tackles for loss, and forced three turnovers, capitalizing on those takeaways to the tune of 17 points. Mercifully, Doeren subbed out McCall — who finished 15-of-24 for just 104 yards and a pick — midway through the fourth quarter; by that point, the over (59.5) had already hit despite NC State only scoring three offensive points all night.
“Definitely not what I expected,” Doeren said. “It just felt like we started to spiral and could never get back into it.”
For the first time since 2022, Grayson McCall went a full game without a touchdown pass thrown. (Jim Dedmon / USA Today)
This is how a game billed as a battle of the quarterbacks — McCall vs. Tennessee redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava, the most-anticipated Vols passer since Peyton Manning — became a showcase for the Vols’ dominant D-line.
And you know what? For Tennessee fans, that should be perfectly fine.
That’s mostly because Iamaleava, facing his toughest test yet, still passed. Maybe not the sterling A-plus-plus he earned last week in a half vs. Chattanooga, but still a solid B-minus. In just over three-quarters of work, he finished 16-for-23 with 212 passing yards and two touchdowns, plus another 65 yards and a score on the ground … but also had his first two career interceptions, including an 87-yard pick-six when he was hit as he threw. For that, Iamaleava deserves a pass — and because, well, Tennessee already led 37-3 at the time. But for the other, an overthrown misfire into triple (or possibly quadruple) coverage? He’s gotta own that one, which he did.
“That first mistake, I was trying to squeeze it,” Iamaleava said. “Too long — you know, I could’ve dropped it (off) or ran, scrambled, made a play.”
On the whole, Iamaleava’s good outweighed his two mistakes. He was better than “OK,” or how he self-assessed his third career start. And if he’d actually converted one of his three other would-be touchdowns — a 61-yard bomb to tight end Miles Kitselman that was called back because of a penalty and two other sideline ropes that narrowly fell incomplete in the end zone — then he’d have even more banked highlights for a potential Heisman campaign.
As is, Tennessee has to feel good about where Iamaleava is: very good, but still a few wrench-tightens away from great.
That, though, is where this defensive line comes in. It gives Iamaleava time to grow into the superstar that many in the industry believe he’s on track to become — and after umpteen offseason sessions against that ferocious front, he knows that as well as anyone.
“That D-line,” Iamaleava said, cracking a grin, “is nasty.”
It was obvious early on that NC State was in for a rough night in the trenches. Waters, who rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns in NC State’s season-opening win over Western Carolina, had minus-6 yards on the Wolfpack’s opening drive and was immediately met in the backfield every time he took a handoff. And while Smothers found a little more running room in the second quarter — including three consecutive carries for 31 yards that got the Wolfpack to Tennessee’s 16-yard line — the pressure on McCall was constant. Immediately after those three successful runs, edge Joshua Josephs blew through NC State’s offense line and got a hand in McCall’s face as he threw; that was enough disruption for McCall to overthrow his pass — which landed right in safety Will Brooks’ grasp, who promptly returned it for an 85-yard pick six.
Tennessee 17, NC State 3.
Momentum, gone. Pressure, unlocked.
Ballgame? Effectively over.
“They’re good, right? They’ve got speed on the edge and size up front. It’s an SEC football team,” McCall said. “It’s what we expected.”
But expecting something and handling it are two very different things — and NC State, clearly, could not handle the mayhem the Vols created. The question is: who can? This is two straight weeks that Tennessee hasn’t allowed its opponent to get into the end zone. That will undoubtedly change soon — maybe not next week against Kent State, but likely at Oklahoma thereafter — but it’s remarkable all the same.
Asked if this was the best defensive performance he’s been part of at Tennessee, 48-game starter and defensive tackle Omari Thomas put it bluntly: “Probably so.”
Between Iamaleava, Tennessee’s running game — which produced 249 rushing yards and three touchdowns on a 5.7 yard per carry clip — and this defensive line, the Vols seemingly have all the necessary ingredients to mount a College Football Playoff push. And, again: that’s counting on Iamaleava as he currently is, three starts into his college career, instead of how seasoned he should be after a full SEC gauntlet. Considering people inside Tennessee’s facility, and those more broadly who have come through Knoxville, already believe Iamaleava has first-round potential, it’ll be fascinating to see just what heights he can reach.
Plus, let’s be realistic: It’s going to take truly elite quarterback play to not just make the CFP, but to do any damage in it. Iamaleava has shown that in flashes, but it’s a small sample size.
In the meantime, as he throws his first few interceptions, as he goes into raucous road environments, as he faces defenses on par with his own team’s — “going up against them every day kind of sucks,” Kitselman admitted — the Vols’ front seven should provide the redshirt freshman enough margin of error to keep this orange-checkered train on the tracks.
“If they keep playing like that,” running back Dylan Sampson said, “and we keep stringing things together, sky is the limit.”
(Top photo: Jim Dedmon / USA Today)
