KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On homecoming when thousands of fans and two defenses failed to show up at Neyland Stadium, Tennessee scored two quick-strike touchdowns in a 1 minute, 29 second span of the fourth quarter and escaped with a 55-48 win over upset-minded Troy.
“Football traditionalists are rolling over in their graves right now,” Tennessee coach Derek Dooley said. “As bad as we were on defense – and we were really bad – we stopped them twice and that’s the reason we won.”
Trailing 48-41 after Troy’s go-ahead touchdown with 3:14 remaining, the Vols’ record-setting offense punished the Trojans a little more.
After a 15-yard pass interference call on Troy, Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray found Justin Hunter on a 46-yard touchdown strike to tie the game with 2:54 left. One play. A touchdown. In just 16 seconds.
The Vols’ beleaguered defense discovered some long-lost grit and forced a Troy punt and Tennessee took possession on its own 34. In a third-and-10 bind at the Trojans’ 33, Bray hooked up with Hunter for 24 yards to the 9.
On the next play, tailback Marlin Lane found a crease up the middle and darted into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with 1:25 on the clock to cap a 21-point fourth quarter.
“Great job finding a way to win and we survived,” Dooley said.
A Tennessee loss may have been the dagger-in-the-heart Dooley is trying to avoid so he can remain as the Vols’ coach.
Considering yet another horrific performance by the defense, Dooley was asked if this was the worst he’s felt after a victory.
“No,” he said. “I feel pretty good. Think of the alternative.”
While the defensive numbers were horrible, Tennessee’s high-octane offense came through in the clutch with its first game-winning drive of the season.
The numbers put up by both teams were staggering:
The 103 points set a Neyland Stadium record and the second-highest combined total in UT history. The Vols and American University combined for 104 on Oct. 7, 1905. The point total also was the fourth-highest in a non-overtime game in SEC history, but the fourth game with at least 95 points this season.
“You used to grind them out 9 to 6,” Dooley said. “Now you grind them out 55 to 48. It’s a new era.”
Back to the numbers.
Tennessee’s 718 yards of total offense is a school record, topping the previous mark of 695 put up against Kentucky on Nov. 22, 1997.
Add Troy’s whopping 721 yards and the teams amassed 1,439 combined yards. That’s also a UT record, surpassing the 1,329 yards the Vols and Kentucky posted in that same 1997 shootout.
In his postgame remarks, Dooley looked down at the stat sheet and was visibly stunned.
“Is that 1,400?” Dooley said, noting the two teams’ total yardage. “Holy, Jesus.
“We used to get that much in a season.”
The teams, playing for the first time, combined for 175 offensive plays, 99 by the Trojans.
Troy’s 721 yards is the most against Tennessee, bettering the 634 Kentucky had in 1997.
Bray, the California gunslinger who has a knack of misfiring against rugged SEC opponents, threw for 530 yards to break Peyton Manning’s record of 523 against Kentucky in, that’s right, 1997. The five TD passed tie Bray’s own record. Bray has 25 scoring passes this year and 60 in his 25-game career.
The 530 passing yards by Bray, who threw to 10 different receivers, is second only to Georgia’s Eric Zeier’s 544 against Southern Miss in 1993. Bray’s 530 yards of total offense is fourth-best in the SEC, 10 behind the mark of Ole Miss’ Archie Manning set against Alabama in 1969.
Bray’s 313 yards passing in the first half is another UT record, breaking his mark of 308 against Memphis in 2010.
Having thrown for 6,644 yards passing, Bray is fourth on the Vols’ all-time list.
“We were down seven points with three minutes to go and that was all I was worried about,” Bray said. “I could have cared less about breaking records. We needed a win.”
Bray rallied the Vols after the Trojans went out front, 48-41, on Corey Robinson’s 67-yard touchdown bomb to Eric Thomas with 3:14 left.
Dooley was happy to see Bray come through in the clutch.
“We did something we’ve never done,” Dooley said. “We gritted it out in the fourth quarter. It’s something Tyler hasn’t done. That was good.”
The record-breaking frenzy on display before an announced crowd of 84,189 – it appeared that 30,000 to 35,000 fewer fans were actually in the stadium – didn’t stop with Bray. He was throwing all those passes to someone in orange and white.
The 400 receiving yards by receivers Cordarrelle Patterson and Hunter set a school record. Patterson caught nine passes for 219 yards and a 14-yard touchdown. Hunter also had nine catches for 181 yards and touchdowns covering 21, 40 and 46 yards.
Patterson, who had 275 all-purpose yards, dazzled the Trojans and excited an otherwise subdued crowd with electrifying runs after catches. On one play, Patterson made eight Troy defenders miss before a ninth finally brought him down.
“When he gets the ball,” Lane said, “no telling where he’s going. I just try to run down and block for him and get him in the end zone. He’s a high-motor guy.”
Said Patterson, “(The coaches) just tell me to go out there and do what I do.”
The Trojans (4-5) scored their most points ever against an SEC opponent and scored on three consecutive second-quarter possessions to erase Tennessee’s 28-10 lead.
Troy led 40-34 after three quarters, but Neal’s touchdown catch early in the fourth put the Vols back out front, 41-34, setting up the final hectic minutes.
The game wasn’t decided until Troy’s fourth-down pass from the Vols’ 40 went incomplete as time expired.
“I certainly don’t remember (a game) quite like this,” said Troy coach Larry Blakeney, the Trojans’ all-time winningest coach with 168 victories in 22 seasons.
In terms of sheer offensive explosiveness, no one in attendance had ever seen anything like Saturday’s game on Shields-Watkins Field.
While winning for the first time after four straight losses to nationally ranked SEC powers felt good for the Vols, a few Tennessee defensive players were a bit rankled by Troy’s 721 yards of offense.
“I actually just found that out,” defensive back Eric Gordon said. “It’s unfortunate, but we won, so I don’t really care about that.”
Linebacker Curt Maggitt was obviously disappointed.
“I am frustrated,” he said. “We did not play up to our ability. (Troy) made too many big plays. We came out with a win, but we did not execute at all.”
Tennessee (4-5, 0-5 SEC), which has given up 38 or more points in five straight games, returns to conference play next week, hosting newcomer Missouri (4-5, 1-5) in a 12:21 p.m. game.
SUMMARY
Troy 10 20 10 8 – 48
Tennessee 21 10 3 21 – 55
First Quarter
TROY – FG Will Scott 37, 11:09
TENN – Cordarrelle Patterson 14 pass from Tyler Bray (Michael Palardy kick), 7:36
TROY – Shawn Southward 7 run (Scott kick), 4:42
TENN – Marlin Lane 17 run (Palardy kick), 3:03
TENN – Justin Hunter 21 pass from Bray (Palardy kick), 0:44
Second Quarter
TENN – Hunter 40 pass from Bray (Palardy kick), 11:06
TROY – Southward 1 run (Scott kick), 6:40
TROY – Chip Reeves 51 pass from Deon Anthony (kick failed), 4:37
TROY – Anthony 28 run (Scott kick), 1:12
TENN – FG Palardy 21, 0:00
Third Quarter
TENN – FG Palardy 31, 11:47
TROY – Eric Thomas 3 pass from Anthony (Scott kick), 7:31
TROY – FG Scott 42, 0:34
Fourth Quarter
TENN – Raijon Neal 23 pass from Bray (Palardy kick), 13:38
TROY – Thomas 67 pass from Robinson (Thomas pass from Robinson), 3:14
TENN – Hunter 46 pass from Bray (Palardy kick), 2:54
TENN – Lane 9 run (Palardy kick), 1:25
YARDSTICK
TROY TEN
First Downs 34 35
Rushes-Yds. 39-225 29-188
Passing Yds. 496 530
Com.-Att.-Int. 38-60-0 29-47-0
Total Offense 721 718
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Punts.-Avg. 4-33.0 3-37.0
Penalties-Yds. 8-76 10-98
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Troy: Shawn Southward 16-101, Deon Anthony 5-51, Justin Albert 8-35, D.J. Taylor 6-17, Chandler Worthy 1-7, Chip Reeves 1-7, Daron White 1-5, Corey Robinson 1-2: Tennessee: Marlin Lane 19-132, Raijon Neal 7-32, Cordarrelle Patterson 2-13, Alton Howard 1-11.
PASSING — Troy: Robinson 30-46-0 393, Deon Anthony 8-12-0, Team 0-2-0 0; Tennessee: Tyler Bray 29-47-0 530.
RECEIVING — Troy: Thomas 6-147, Reeves 5-144, Worthy 5-61, J.Robinson -43, Albert 7-39, Cbris Williams 2-38, Southward 2-1, Jarod Lee 1-2, B.J. Chitty 1-minus 4; Tennessee: Patterson 9-219, Hunter 9-181, Lane 3-31, Zach Rogers 2-26, Neal 1-23, Vincent Dallas 1-14, Ben Bartholomew 1-12, Jacob Carter 1-8, Mychal Rivera 1-7.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)