Following the win, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with media and discussed the Vols' victory.

"First of all, just to start with our fans, awesome atmosphere coming back," Heupel said. "Vol Walk was electric, packed out. Had a lot of former players. Had former basketball players. DK (Dalton Knecht) is back, too. Great to have so many former players come back and be a part of it, too.

"Just as a football team, we started fast. There's some hurdles we have to take out, but all-in-all good performance defensively, controlled the line of scrimmage, got off of the field on third down. Offensively, we were able to run the football and create some big plays as well. Special teams was a solid performance."

PHOTOS: Tennessee's 71-point win versus Kent State at Neyland Stadium