Tennessee has made a significant statement Saturday with a 31-17 defeat of well-regarded Clemson.
For the Vols this was a key game in a tough SCRC East.
“We were very pleased,” said Head Coach Scott Tungay. “I think the boys were more nervous going into [last week’s game against] South Carolina. Once we got all those nerves out in that game I think the boys were hungry to do more and practice was locked in.”
The Vols remember losing to Clemson last year and that pain was a bit of a motivator.
“We had a very specific game plan,” said Tungay. “When we followed it we looked good. Clemson is a good team but a lot of what they were able to do was capitlize on our mistakes.
It was a weird start for Tennessee as September Gamebreaker Roman Funkhouser was a late scratch due to injury. The Vols needed someone to replace him as a go-forward initiator and that man was hooker Nate Rawls. The sophomore was a No. 8 with the Charlotte Cardinals and he took on the task, scoring two tries.
With Captain Michael McGettigan out also Tungay moved Niko Zaharas from flanker to center to shore that up.
He helped set up a couple of tries.
“We learned a lot from last year and this is basically the same group of guys but the difference was that we are mostly healthy this year,” said Tungay. “This time last year we had 15 guys out.”
Photos Will Fagan
