One of the Tennessee Vols' most frustrating games in 2023 was a game that UT won.
In week two, after Tennessee opened the season with a 49-13 win against Virginia in Nashville, the Vols welcomed Austin Peay to Neyland Stadium for their home opener.
The game against Austin Peay was supposed to be a blowout. Fans arrived that Saturday afternoon expecting to see Tennessee's high-flying offense put Austin Peay away early, which would've allowed true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star recruit, to make his Neyland debut.
Instead, Tennessee struggled to build a big lead against Austin Peay. The Vols were never in danger of losing the game, but they were able to manage only a 30-13 win against Austin Peay.
A big reason why that was the case was the approach of Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden, who admitted after the game that he used a unique game plan to "frustrate" the Volunteers.
"I think we frustrated them in a lot of ways," said Walden. "We want to be that FCS team that no Power 5 school wants to play. I know my AD doesn't want to hear that, he probably likes those checks. We want teams to think twice before they schedule the Governors because they won't get a team that is going to lay down. They are going to get a team that's going to fight. It's going to be uncommon, it's going to be cutting-edge. We did a lot of things to disrupt their tempo and disrupt their rhythm. Again, I'm just so proud of the kids. They bought into the game plan. I'll tell you one thing, I thought we did a great job as a coaching staff communicating the game plan because it was uncommon."
The Vols were undoubtedly happy to see Walden leave Neyland Stadium in September.
But they learned this week that they'll have to welcome him back in 2024.
Earlier this week, UTEP hired Walden away from Austin Peay to replace Dana Dimel as the program's head coach.
Tennessee is scheduled to play UTEP on November 23 in Knoxville next fall. And I'd expect Walden to carry a similar we-want-to-be-the-team-no-one-wants-to-play mindset into that matchup.
Fortunately for the Vols, they'll have an idea of what to expect from Walden this time around. He won't be able to sneak up on Tennessee quite as easy, though one thing is clear after last season -- this won't be a gimme game for the Vols. Walden is going to make sure it's a headache to play UTEP next November.
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