Joe Milton assesses his performance in Tennessee opener vs. Bowling Green

Not unlike his Michigan career, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton had an inconsistent night in a 38-6 win over Bowling Green.

He finished the game 11-for-23 with 140 yards, a touchdown and a QBR of 31.4. Following the game, Milton addressed his performance. 

“I played good,” Milton said. “There’s a lot to learn from as an offense, but we’ll get better. 

“Everything,” Milton added when asked what particular areas on the offensive side of the ball need to improve. “There’s a lot to learn from. There’s a lot of things to clean up as an offensive unit, but we’ll get it done for sure.”

All in all, Milton is a fan of the offensive scheme new head coach Josh Heupel is implementing in Knoxville. 

“I love it,” Milton said of the Tennessee offensive scheme. “It’s just all about playing into space. And when you got a guy like me, a guy that can do it all, it’s all about the execution part of it.”

Run game helped push the Volunteers past BGCU

Milton started the game 9-for-11 and scored a four-yard rushing touchdown on the first drive. Then he started to struggle, and Tennessee was forced to turn almost exclusively to the run game. The dual-threat quarterback finished the night with 44 rushing yards and two rushing scores. 

“I feel like I ran it better than I did before” Milton said. “I felt more confident in my runs. It’s something to learn from though. You know, just keep moving the ball.”

Tennessee finished the game with 326 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Backs Tiyon Evans and Jabari Small each had 116 yards and a touchdown.

Heupel never considered making a change at quarterback

Despite Milton’s struggles down the stretch, Heupel did not contemplate replacing him. 

“No, there wasn’t anything that was earth-shattering that felt like we had to make a change,” Heupel said when asked if he considered pulling Milton. “We believe in Joe. We believe in the other two guys too, we really do. Strength in a position can never be one guy. They’re all going to have to compete and get better. Joe will need to continue to get better too.

“We’ll have a chance to go back and watch the tape. Guys are going to continue to improve. It’s the first time we played the system inside of a live football game and it was in Neyland Stadium. There were a lot of really good things and a lot we can get better at, too.”

Tennessee hosts Pittsburgh on Sept. 11. They are 0-2 against the Panthers all-time, and the teams have not met since 1983.