Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs breaks a long run against Nebraska in the Music City Bowl on Friday. Dobbs accounted for 409 yards of offense and four touchdowns -- a bowl-record three rushing and one passing -- in the Vols' 38-24 victory.
photo by Dennis Norwood
When Peyton Manning played his final game at Tennessee, his Vols were thrashed 42-17 as Nebraska won a national title in the 1998 Orange Bowl.
Fast forward to Friday.
With Joshua Dobbs bidding farewell to an illustrious college career, the smooth-operating, dual-threat quarterback rushed for three touchdowns and passed for a fourth to lead Tennessee to a 38-24 victory over the No. 24 Cornhuskers in the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Capping his last game as a three-year starter in front of a near-sellout crowd of 68,496, Dobbs scored on runs of 10, 2 and 3 yards to set a Music City record and threw a 59-yard touchdown bomb to Josh Malone, leading the Vols (9-4) to their first win against Nebraska after two previous bowl losses.
“(Josh) is a great competitor and I knew he was going to play one of his best games,” Vols coach Butch Jones said. “I was worried he might be too amped before the game and I told him, ‘You’ve got four quarters of football. Don’t win it in the first quarter.’ ”
Dobbs now has 32 career rushing touchdowns, joining only two other players – Gene McEver and James Stewart to accomplish that.
Under Jones the Vols have won three straight bowl games, outscoring three Big Ten opponents – Iowa, Northwestern and Nebraska – 128-58.
After Dobbs’ third rushing TD, he had piled up 334 total yards – 232 passing, 102 rushing – to Nebraska’s 205 team total that included just 61 rushing yards. When the game and his career ended Dobbs was still ahead of the ‘Huskers and was the key cog in a Vols offense that piled up 521 yards of offense.
“It’s been a heck of a ride,” said the game’s MVP – he was the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl MVP as well. “I’ve had my share of adversity and my share of success during my time at Tennessee. I’m with the guys to the right of me (at postgame press conference) and I wouldn’t go to war with anyone else.”
Dobbs shared the night’s spotlight with defensive end Derek Barnett, who after chasing the legendary Reggie White for the Vols’ all-time sack record, finally got to Fyfe late in the fourth quarter for No. 33, one more than White had at Tennessee.
“It was a great feeling,” said Barnett, who had 10 sacks in each of his first two seasons in Knoxville and upped that to seasonal total to 13 in 2016. “I can’t really describe it; I just know it happened fast. It was a blink and then he (Fyfe) was on the ground.”
Was he frustrated by so many close calls on the ‘Husker quarterback through three-plus quarters?
“I don’t think it was tough to keep working,” said the 6-foot-3, 265-pound Barnett, who played high school ball at Nashville’s Brentwood Academy. “As a D-lineman, you have to have that mindset that you’re not going to get home every time. The football gods will reward you if you keep grinding.”
Said Jones, “In my opinion, he’s the best defensive end in the country. He works at his craft every single day and he’s ultra-competitive.”
When the Cornhuskers (9-4) pulled to within 31-24 early in the fourth period, Dobbs fired a deep ball to Malone, who was behind the Nebraska secondary for the insurance score. It was Malone’s 11th touchdown reception of the season. He caught five balls for 120 yards against the ‘Huskers.
What was said in the huddle before the Vols went 77 yards in four plays, using just 70 seconds to score and extend the lead?
“We were cool, calm and collected and ready to put up some more points on the board,” Malone said. “We have full confidence that we’re going to score every time, no matter how close the game is.”
A few minutes later, Barnett got to Fyfe for the record-smashing sack. Tennessee called a timeout to celebrate with one of the country’s top defensive linemen.
The play came with 3:36 left and set up a fourth-and-35, the ‘Huskers threw an incomplete pass and the countdown to victory began.
Barnett had been close about 15 times to a sack, but it finally came about 57 minutes into the game.
“Barnett is obviously a good player,” said Fyfe, who was 17 for 36 for 243 yards and two touchdowns. “He was getting in the backfield pretty quick. His only sack; it seemed like he was back there all the time. I felt like I had a lot of hurry-ups and I always had to know where he’s at on the field and which side he’s on.”
The question now is this: will Barnett stay around for his senior year or enter the NFL draft?
"I'm going to sit down with my mom and talk it over," he said. "I'll let you know with my family; we'll decide what's best for us."
Reports from Knoxville seemed to indicate that tailback Alvin Kamara has decided to enter the NFL draft.
Up to Barnett’s big moment, the night belonged to Dobbs, whose brilliant performance came with Manning on the sidelines. The former Vol great retired after winning his second Super Bowl last season.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Dobbs, who is from Alpharetta, Ga., was 23 of 38 for 291 yards and one touchdown. He was the game’s leading rusher with 118 yards on 11 carries and produced 409 yards of offense.
Nebraska would end the game with 318 yards of offense, drastically lower than what Tennessee yielded in each of its last three regular-season games. Kentucky put up 635 yards, Missouri had 740 and Vanderbilt 516 – a combined total of 1,891 yards.
“I think the athleticism of their quarterback was a factor tonight,” Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. “I thought he did a nice job of throwing the ball on time. When it wasn’t right on time, he moved around, bought time and ran. Those plays were hard on us.”
After a scoreless first quarter, tailback John Kelly ran 28 yards for Tennessee’s first touchdown. The score was set up when Dobbs hooked up with Malone on a 31-yard gainer. Malone finished with 120 yards on five catches.
Dobbs then started his string of three straight scores, running 10 yards to cap an 11-play, 66-yard drive in 4:44, to give the Vols a 14-0 lead.
Nebraska scored when Fyfe threw 38 yards to Brandon Reilly, the first two scoring connections that duo had in the game.
Dobbs came right back with an apparent 13-yard TD strike to Jauan Jennings, but the play was reviewed and overturned when officials determined the ball hit the ground.
Moments later Dobbs scored untouched on a 2-yard run nine seconds before the first half ended. At the half, Dobbs had 308 yards of total offense compared to the ‘Huskers’ 118.
Early in the third quarter, defensive back Malik Foreman caused and recovered a fumble at Nebraska’s 44, but the Vols wasted that scoring opportunity.
Later Dobbs’ 29-yard run to the 33 set up a field goal by Aaron Medley to give the Vols a 24-7 cushion.
Fyfe and Reilly connected for another touchdown with 3:26 left in the quarter and cut the Vols’ lead to 24-14. Reilly went through the entire regular season without a TD catch.
As the third quarter wound down, Dobbs hit tight end Jason Croom in the right flat and for a 30-yard gain to the Nebraska 9. Less than a minute into the fourth period, Dobbs was flushed from the pocket and scrambled 3 yards for his third score and Tennessee had a 30-14 lead.
That was Dobb’s 12th rushing touchdown, a single-season school record he had shared with Heath Shuler (11 in 1992). Dobbs also had 11 in 2015.
The Cornhuskers added a field goal and Fyfe’s 9-yard run – Nebraska’s first rushing TD by a quarterback this season – and had the Vols a bit jittery with 31-24 score.
Nebraska had made a habit with fourth-quarter rallies during the regular season, but this time, however, Dobbs and Malone erased any chances of that happening in this game with their 59-yard insurance touchdown with 8:45 left.
Dobbs is now only the third quarterback in SEC history with 15 passing TDs and 10 rushing in multiple seasons, joining Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott in that elite group.
“(Dobbs) can do it all,” said Ross Dzuris, Nebraska’s senior defensive end. “He can throw pretty well and when it breaks down he’s really good at finding the open lanes. If your rush lanes aren’t good, he’ll make you pay for it.”
And while Manning went on to become one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, he left Miami on that cool January 1998 night hurt and disappointed.
Conversely, Dobbs was celebrating with Barnett and their other teammates a victory that somewhat soothed the stinging loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville in the regular-season finale.
Just somewhat.
SCORING
Nebraska 0 7 7 10 – 24
Tennessee 0 21 3 14 -- 38
Second Quarter
TENN – John Kelly 28 run (Aaron Medley kick), 13:20
TENN – Joshua Dobbs 10 run (Medley kick), 7:36
NEB – Brandon Reilly 38 pass from Ryker Fyfe (Drew Brown kick), 1:36
TENN– Dobbs 2 run (Medley kick), :09
Third Quarter
TENN– FG Medley 46, 5:52
NEB – Reilly 9 pass from Fyfe (Brown kick), 3:26
Fourth Quarter
TENN – Dobbs 3 run (Medley kick), 14:09
NEB – FG Brown 45, 12:06
NEB – Reilly 9 run (Brown kick), 10:02
TENN– Josh Malone 59 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 8:45
Attendance: 68,496
YARDSTICK
NEB TENN
First Downs 18 25
Rushes-Yards 28-61 38-230
Passing Yards 257 291
Comp-Att-Int 19-42-0 23-38-0
Plays-Total Yds 70-318 76-521
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1
Punts-Avg 7-42.7 6-43.3
Penalties-Yds 7-41 6-65
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Nebraska: Devine Ozigbo 7-66, Terrell Newby 9-19, Cethan Carter 1-9, Stanley Morgan Jr. 1-0, Mikale Wilbon 1-minus 1, Team 1-minus 1, Ryker Fyfe 8-minus 27; Tennessee: Joshua Dobbs 11-118, John Kelly 15-70, Alvin Kamara 7-31, Juaun Jennings 2-14, Tyler Byrd 1-9, Team 1-minus 1, Josh Smith 1-minus 11.
PASSING – Nebraska: Fyfe 17-36-0-243, Zack Darlington 2-6-0-14; Tennessee: Dobbs 23-38-0-291.
RECEIVING – Nebraska: Brandon Reilly 4-98, De’Mornay Pierson-El 5-49, Carter 2-34, Morgan Jr. 3-28, Bryan Remiers 2-26, Newby 2-11, Ozigbo 1-11; Tennessee: Josh Malone 5-120, Jennings 6-59, Kamara 7-46, Jason Croom 2-38, Smith 2-13, Ethan Wolf 1-15.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Defensive end Derek Barnett (9) of Tennessee gets past Nebraska offensive lineman Cole Conrad (62) en route to sacking quarterback Ryker Fyfe on Friday. It was Barnett's 33rd career sack, breaking the old mark of 32 set by Reggie White.
photo by Dennis Norwood