The Tennessee Volunteers wasted no time taking away any delusions the UAB Blazers may have had going in to today’s non-conference tilt in Knoxville. What the Vols did exhibit, perhaps in a measure of good will, was mercy. Tennessee scored early and often, building an insurmountable lead of 42-7 at halftime, and cruised to a 56-24 smashing of UAB at Shields-Watkins Field in Neyland Stadium. A capacity crowd of 101,915 was on hand to watch what was virtually a scrimmage, as the Volunteers amassed 510 yards of total offense on the day. Quarterback Joey Aguilar threw for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Tennessee punished the UAB defense with 235 rushing yards. Meanwhile, Blazer quarterback Jalen Kitna threw for 364 yards and 2 touchdowns, and was perhaps the only bright spot on the day for UAB in a game where they were clearly outclassed. The Volunteers totally eviscerated the UAB defense, and seemingly did what they wanted to do before the Vols substituted liberally in the second half, where the Blazers scored 17 points to make the final score closer than it ultimately could have been. Kitna was harassed all day by a smothering Tennessee defense and was sacked three times. The Volunteers limited UAB to 23 rushing yards on 19 attempts on the day. The silver lining for UAB, if there was one, is the paycheck they will receive from Tennessee. The Blazers earned a hefty 1.65M dollar payout for their visit. With the loss, UAB drops to 2-2 on the season and will be idle next week before returning home to Protective Stadium to face Army. Tennessee improved to 3-1 on the year and will take on a surging Mississippi State Bulldog team on the road in Starkville next Saturday.