Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs accounted for 470 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-42 overtime win over South Carolina on Saturday.
photo by Tennessee Athletics
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A roadside business sign in Upper East Tennessee shared the sentiment of almost every Tennessee football fan.
It read: GO VOLS. BEAT SOMEBODY.
Well, the sign can come down.
Tennessee scored three touchdowns in the final 1:50 to tie the game and Aaron Medley kicked a 32-yard field goal in overtime to give the Volunteers a spine-tingling, 45-42, victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“We knew we were going to win this game all week,” Vols coach Butch Jones said.
“It was about confidence. We needed tangible results. We needed these kids to be rewarded for their hard work. We were going to find a way to win the game.”
Needing three wins in their final four games to become bowl eligible, the Vols (4-5, 1-4), who had 645 yards of offense (344 rushing, 304 passing, 95 plays), stunned coach Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks (4-5, 2-5) in the first overtime game ever at Williams-Brice Stadium behind the sterling play of quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
“I’ve done a lousy job of maximizing what we think we’ve got here,” said Spurrier, who did not take questions at his post-game press conference. “We score a few points, but we find a way to lose. This is a tough one, but we’ve had three of four of these this year. We should be getting used to it by now.”
The 344 rushing yards were the most by a Tennessee team against an SEC opponent since gaining 406 against Vanderbilt in 1994. The Vols went into the game averaging 104.9 rushing yards per game, which ranks 13th in the conference. They had 157 yards at halftime.
A sophomore who was forced to give up a redshirt year when starter Justin Worley was injured two weeks ago, Dobbs accounted for 470 yards of offense and five touchdowns.
He completed 22-of-39 passes for 304 yards and touchdowns of 21 yards and 9 yards to Jalen Hurd and Jason Croom, respectively. The toss to Croom came with 11 seconds left in regulation and tied the game at 42-all.
Dobbs also led the Vols’ rushing attack with 166 yards on 24 carries. He scored on runs of 7, 36 and 3 yards. The 166 yards is a single-game school record for quarterbacks, breaking the old mark of 106 set by Jimmy Streeter in 1979. Dobbs is only the fourth quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards in the program’s 118-year history.
“(Running) keeps the defense on their heels and it allows us to have a balanced attack,” Dobbs said. “Then, when the receivers make plays, the defense doesn’t know what’s coming.”
Dobbs became the first Vols’ player to score three touchdowns since Rajion Neal did it against Western Kentucky last season.
“It was a team effort,” Dobbs said. “I told the defense we (offense) had their back. I said however many points the other team scores we’ll score more.”
Dobbs, true to his word, scored on a 3-yard run with 1:50 left and then hit a wide open Croom with the game-tying touchdown pass with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Those clutch scores capped 75- and 85-yard drives, the last with no timeouts.
South Carolina’s Brandon Wilds seemingly had put the game away with a 70-yard touchdown runs that extended the lead to 42-28 with 4:52 left on the clock. Wilds scored two other touchdowns on a 5-yard run and 30-yard pass from Pharoh Cooper.
The Vols, avoiding a fourth-quarter letdown, something that has plagued the Gamecocks two other times this season, answered Wilds’ long run with a critical scoring drive capped by Dobbs’ 3-yard run.
On the Vols’ ensuing drive, Dobbs threw to Alton Howard in the end zone, but South Carolina’s Rico Williams broke up the pass. On the next play, Dobbs hit Croom in the chest for the clutch touchdown that forced the overtime period.
South Carolina won the toss and chose to play defense.
The drive stalled, but Medley came through with what proved to be the game-winning field goal. Medley had missed twice from 43 and 45 yards earlier at the other end of the field, kicking into a swirling wind that pushed everything to the left.
“That was a special moment,” Medley said. “It meant everything. It was a great program win. I screamed so much after the game I lost my voice.”
Then, Tennessee’s defense came through with its most impressive defensive stand of the season.
On first down, Curt Maggitt sacked Gamecocks quarterback Dylan Thompson for a 9-yard loss. Derek Barnett then got to Thompson for a second straight sack, a loss of 7 yards. On third down, Thompson was flushed out of the pocket and forced to heave the ball out of bounds.
That put place-kicker Elliott Fry in a tough situation.
Fry’s 58-yard field goal try came up well short of the mark and the Vols erupted into celebration, having improved their overtime record to 11-5 all-time. That ties Missouri for the most overtime victories in NCAA history.
“I thought the defensive front, especially Curt Maggitt, came off the edge with a whole other presence in overtime,” Jones said. “Same thing with Derek Barnett.
Hurd enjoyed another solid effort in his freshman season, rushing for 125 yards on 24 carries. He caught seven passes for 78 yards, including a 21-yarder from Dobbs to start the fourth-quarter comeback.
“This was amazing,” Hurd said. “It was our first really big win of the year. We busted our butts all week getting ready for this game.”
Howard had five receptions for 109 yards. He scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter for the Vols’ first touchdown.
Cooper was a hot iron in Tennessee’s eye all night.
The sophomore wide receiver caught 11 passes for a school-record 233 yards – that broke the Gamecocks record of 210 set by NFL first-round draft pick Troy Williamson in 2004. He scored touchdowns of 12 and 85 yards. He ran for an 11-yard score and threw a 30-yard touchdown strike to Wilds.
The loss took something from his performance.
“Very frustrating,” Cooper said. “Even though I had a big game, set a record, we still lost the game so all that stuff goes out the window.”
A week ago, Alabama’s Amari Cooper riddled the Vols for nine catches and a Crimson Tide record 224 yards and two touchdowns. He caught five passes for 185 yards in the first quarter alone.
Thompson threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, a big reason the Gamecocks had 625 yards of offense, the fourth straight game in which they put up at least 500 yards.
Scoring Summary
Tennessee 7 14 0 21 3 – 45
South Carolina 7 7 14 14 0 – 42
First Quarter
SC – Pharoh Cooper 11 run (Elliott Fry kick), 8:34
UT – Alton Howard 1 run (Aaron Medley kick), 2:37
Second Quarter
UT – Dobbs 7 run (Medley kick), 10:58
SC – Brandon Wilds 30 pass from Cooper (Fry kick), 6:35
UT – Dobbs 36 run (Medley kick), 0:07
Third Quarter
SC – Wilds 5 run (Fry kick), 9:06
SC – Cooper 12 pass from Dylan Thompson (Fry kick), 0:09
Fourth Quarter
SC – Cooper 85 pass from Thompson (Fry kick), 13:23
UT – Hurd 21 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 6:34
SC – Wilds 70 run (Fry kick), 4:52
UT – Dobbs 3 run (Medley kick), 1:50
UT – Jason Croom 9 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 0:11
Overtime
UT – FG Medley 32
Attendance – 81,891
YARDSTICK
UT SC
First Downs 35 26
Rushes-Yards 55-344 39-248
Passing Yards 301 377
Att-Com-Int 23-40-1 21-34-1
Total Yards 95-645 61-625
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Punts.-Avg. 3-32.7 3-34.7
Penalties-Yds. 4-31 7-51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Tennessee: Joshua Dobbs 24-166, Jalen Hurd 21-125, Alton Howard 4-29, Marlin Lane 5-15, Von Pearson 1-9; South Carolina: Brandon Wilds 8-143, Mike Davis 16-69, Pharoh Cooper 3-23, David Williams 2-14, Dylan Thompson 10-minus 1.
PASSING — Tennessee: Dobbs 23-40-1 301; South Carolina: Thompson 20-32-1 347, Cooper 1-2-0 30.
RECEIVING — Tennessee: Howard 5-109, Hurd 7-58, Pearson 4-55, Alex Ellis 1-24, Jason Croom 2-20, Ethan Wolf 2-14, Daniel Helm 1-12, Lane 1-9; South Carolina: Cooper 11-233, Jerell Adams 4-41, Davis 1-34, Damiere Byrd 2-32, Wilds 2-30, Nick Jones 1-7.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)