Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin hits a South Carolina runner and causes a fumble in the team's game Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. Reeves-Maybin recovered a fumble caused by Malik Foreman in the final seconds that sealed a 27-24 win.
photo by Dennis Norwood
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee, with momentum on its side after a crushing win against Kentucky last week, scored two quick touchdowns Saturday and then had to scratch, claw and fight like crazy before disposing of South Carolina, 27-24, Saturday at Neyland Stadium before 101,253 fans.
“What can I say, we found a way to win,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “This is a week-to-week league and that’s why it’s the toughest conference in all of college football."
Jones became testy during his postgame press conference when asked what happened to the Vols' offense in the second half.
"(Gamecocks) started a lot of movement up front, brining the nickel a lot and we were limited in some of the quarterback run packages, but I'm never going to apologize for winning," he said.
"This (was) a hard-fought game. We're playing a good football team, and I give South Carolina all the credit in the world.
"They're on scholarship and they're going to have some success. We're still building. I'm proud of our players. I'm proud of our program."
Jones later backed off his remarks.
After the Gamecocks tied the game at 24-24 late in the third quarter, Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs directed a gutsy 62-yard, 10-play drive that fizzled deep in South Carolina territory.
Place-kicker Aaron Medley salvaged the drive with a 27-yard field goal with 9:14 left in the game. It was Medley’s second field goal, the first a 44-yarder in the second quarter.
After what turned out to be Medley’s game-winning kick, the Vols’ defense had to make three fourth-quarter stops to preserve the win, none more important than the last one.
Earlier in the period, Tennessee forced a Gamecocks punt, but the Dobbs-guided offense failed to move the ball and had to punt as well.
After Trevor Daniel’s 50-yard punt, South Carolina, a 17-point underdog, started at its own 20. Again, the Vols’ defense, which was victimized by the Gamecocks’ 21-point third quarter, rose to the occasion and forced another punt.
The Vols (5-4, 3-3 SEC) took over on their own 9 with 3:06 on the clock.
On third down, Dobbs kept and scrambled to his left, but came up 1 yard short. The Gamecocks called their final timeout and Daniel came on to punt. Daniel got off a 45-yarder, Pharoh Cooper muffed the kick when hit by Jalen Reeves-Maybin. Cooper batted the ball out of bounds, a 10-yard penalty and South Carolina took over at the 24.
On third-and-10, Perry Orth connected with Jerell Adams on a 30-yard pass play, but Malik Foreman caused a fumble and Jalen Reeves-Maybin recovered at the Vols’ 13. A 6-yard penalty moved the ball to Tennessee’s 6.
“The guy’s sitting in there in tears because it hurts so bad,” South Carolina interim coach Shawn Elliott said of Adams. “You tell him you love him and pick him up and you move forward. I don’t fault him. He was trying to win the game. That’s what I want us to do.”
Reeves-Maybin felt the clutch defensive play didn’t happen by chance.
“We work on turnovers, recovering the ball and getting it out,” he said. “It’s something embedded in us. The guy carrying the ball didn’t see (Foreman) coming and he punched it out.”
After the key fumble recovery, Dobbs took a knee and the Vols improved to 16-2 against the Gamecocks in Knoxville.
“(That fumble recovery) meant a lot,” Jones said. “He found a way to come up and really make the game-winning turnover. Our kids never lost their poise. They never looked back and said ‘what if?’ That was great to see Malik make that play and us recover the fumble.”
Tennessee extended its winning streak to three in the series, which the Vols lead 25-7-2.
“It’s a good feeling for us just to win,” Vols defensive lineman Derek Barnett said. “If it’s ugly, we (still) get the ‘W’ at the end of the day. Winning is hard and the more you win the (harder) it gets.”
It was tough to watch the Vols fail time after time to get the offense back on track after a first half when they outgained the Gamecocks 259-114. Tennessee had a 136-63 edge on the ground and tailback Jalen Hurd had 79 yards on 14 carries at the break. He had 62 yards in the first quarter.
The second half was a different story.
South Carolina’s ground game started clicking and that helped the Gamecocks, who’ve lost three straight games to the Vols, pick up 271 yards of offense in the second half.
Tailback Brandon Wilds finished with 79 yards on 20 carries – he had just 24 yards in the first 30 minutes.
Quarterback Perry Orth threw for 233 yards, completing 20-of-39 attempts, after having 24 at halftime.
Tennessee’s fast start appeared to send shockwaves through the Gamecocks and Hurd was smashing all comers with hard, bone-jarring runs. However, he gained only 17 yards on 17 runs in the second half.
“We took our foot off the pedal,” Dobbs said.
Said Jones, “I think (South Carolina) stayed ahead of the chains. They were able to run the ball effectively. We were really behind the sticks. We had way too many negative plays and any time you have first-and-15, second-and-12, second-and-14, that really puts your offense behind.”
Dobbs completed 20-of-34 passes for 255 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, coming on a throw-it-and-hope-for-the-best toss as the first half ended. He was held in check on the ground, gaining just 35 yards.
The fact that Saturday’s game was a nail-biter should not have surprised anyone. After all the last four games have been decided by a combined 11 points.
Tennessee won 23-21 on Michael Palardy’s field goal as time expired and the Vols won , 45-42, in overtime last year in Columbia after Dobbs engineered a miracle comeback from a 42-28 deficit to force the overtime period in that one. Medley won that one with a field goal in overtime.
With the hard-to-swallow loss, South Carolina dropped to 3-6, 1-6 in interim coach Shawn Elliott’s third game since taking over for Steve Spurrier, who walked away after a 45-24 loss to LSU.
“(This one) kind of rips you,” Elliott said.
The Vols scored on their first two possessions for a quick 14-0 lead. Alvin Kamara scored on a 4-yard run and Dobbs found Von Pearson on a 37-yard scoring strike.
Pearson was Dobbs’ favorite target and he grabbed eight passes for 121 yards. Pearson’s yardage was the most by a Vols receiver since Justin Hunter had 141 and Mychal Rivera put up 129 against Missouri in 2012.
Three other Vols had at least three receptions for a combined 82 yards.
“We have playmakers across the board,” Dobbs said. “They’ve been making plays throughout the season. They all know that at some point they’re going to have to come up and make a big catch.”
Kamara accounted for 47 of the 67 yards on Tennessee’s first drive, rushing for 47 yards and catching one pass for 20 yards, but had only 30 rushing yards when the game ended.
Save for Medley’s 44-yard field goal, the Vols’ offense went into hibernation, affording South Carolina to mount a rally.
Elliott Fry got the comeback started with a 43-yard field goal and the Gamecocks did some serious damage to the Vols’ defense with three touchdowns in the second period.
Orth threw two touchdown passes covering 10 yards to Johnathan Walton and 7 yards to Adams and suddenly the Gamecocks were even at 17-17 with 8:29 left in the period.
Dobbs hit Kamara on a well-conceived screen pass and the little speedster raced untouched into the end zone, giving the Vols a 24-17 advantage.
South Carolina wasn’t finished.
Bottled up and able to gain just 114 total yards in the first half, the Gamecocks answered Tennessee’s go-ahead touchdown with a 75-yard, nine-play drive in 3 minutes, 37 seconds. Orth tossed a 5-yard scoring pass to Pharoh Cooper with 48 seconds left and the game was tied again.
But Tennessee would not be denied this time, avoiding the fate it suffered in narrow, late losses to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida and Alabama.
The defense would have none of that.
“It’s amazing,” defensive back Cameron Sutton said of the key play that sealed the win. “I think the biggest thing is not getting down on ourselves. It’s how you handle those moments of adversity.”
Tennessee ventures outside the SEC next week for its homecoming game against North Texas, which is 1-8 after Saturday's 56-13 loss to Louisiana Tech. The game will be televised on The SEC Network with a noon kickoff.
It will be North Texas' first visit to Knoxville since the Mean Green's 21-14 upset in 1975.
The Mean Green lost three first-half fumbles and were out-gained 573-316 in the one-sided loss.
SCORING
South Carolina 0 3 21 0 – 00
Tennessee 14 3 7 0 – 00
First Quarter
UT – Alvin Kamara 4 run (Aaron Medley kick), 11:57
UT – Von Pearson 37 pass from Joshua Dobbs (Medley kick), 7:57
Second Quarter
UT – FG Medley 44, 5:00
SC – FG Elliott Fry 43, 1:03
Third Quarter
SC – Jonathan Walton 10 pass from Perry Orth (Fry kick), 9:10
SC – Jerell Adams 7 pass from Orth (Fry kick), 8:29
UT – Kamara 11 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 4:25
SC – Pharoh Cooper 5 pass from Orth (Fry kick), 0:48
Fourth Quarter
UT – FG Medley 27, 9:14
Attendance: 101,253
YARDSTICK
SC UT
First Downs 23 19
Rushes-Yards 40-152 41-153
Passing Yards 233 255
Att-Comp-Int 20-39-0 20-34-1
Plays-Total Yds 79-385 75-408
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-2
Punts-Avg 6-49.7 5-44.2
Penalties-Yds 6-40 6-47
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – South Carolina: Brandon Wilds 20-79, Perry Orth 9-42, Shon Carson 3-23, David Williams 5-7, Pharoh Cooper 1-1, Lorenzo Nunez 2-0; Tennessee: Jalen Hurd 23-90, Joshua Dobbs 13-35, Alvin Kamara 4-30, Team 1-minus 2.
PASSING – South Carolina: Orth 20-39-0 233; Tennessee: Dobbs 20-34-1 255.
RECEIVING – South Carolina: Cooper 4-47, Jerell Adams 2-37, Wilds 3-19, Matrick Belton 2-34, Hayden Hurst 2-29, D.J. Neal 1-22, Terry Googer 1-14, Jonathan Walton 1-10, Shamier Jeffrey 1-4; Tennessee: Von Pearson 8-121, Josh Smith 3-42, Kamara 3-27, Johnathon Johnson 1-24, Ethan Wolf 1-23, Hurd 3-13, Jauan Jennings 1-5.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Sophomore place-kicker Aaron Medley booted a 27-yard field in the fourth quarter and turned out of be the winning points in Tennessee's 27-24 victory over visiting South Carolina.
photo by Dennis Norwood