Versatile tailback Alvin Kamara piled up 288 total yards -- 161 receiving and 127 rushing -- in Tennessee's 45-38 double-overtime loss to Texas A&M in a battle of unbeaten SEC powers that drew 106,248 at Kyle Field. The Vols now get ready to host No. 1-ranked Alabama next Saturday.
photo by Tennessee Athletics
No Jaylen Reeves-Maybin.
No Darrin Kirkland Jr.
No Cameron Sutton.
No Jalen Hurd.
And, no more pixie dust.
After pulling out four magical victories while getting off to a 5-0 start, Tennessee’s ninth-ranked Vols couldn’t overcome seven turnovers or No. 8 Texas A&M on Saturday and suffered a 45-38 double overtime loss before 106,248 – second-largest crowd in Aggies history – at Kyle Field.
“The turnovers obviously killed us,” said Vols quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who threw an interception on the game’s final play.
Tennessee (5-2, 2-1) battled back from a 28-7 third-quarter deficit and tied the game at 35-all when tailback Alvin Kamara, who turned in his greatest performance as a Vol, caught an 18-yard pass from Dobbs with 0:41 seconds left in regulation.
The Vols scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes of regulation play.
In the end, however, Tennessee was haunted by seven turnovers – five lost fumbles and two interceptions, plus 12 penalties – and even nearly 700 yards of total offense weren’t enough to overcome those mistakes.
“You can’t have seven turnovers,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “And you can’t have the penalties we had. It’s the small details, especially when you go on the road, because the small details add up to big details.”
In the first overtime, the two teams exchanged 34-yard field goals, first from Tennessee’s Aaron Medley and then the Aggies’ Daniel LaCamera.
Tennessee started on defense in the second OT.
On second-and-10, Knight found Christian Kirk on a 24-yard gainer to the Vols’ 1. Knight then scored, putting real pressure on the Vols to match the TD.
Dobbs dropped back to pass on first down and fired a pass down the middle, missing the intended receiver badly and Texas A&M’s Armani Watts made a diving interception to end the spine-tingling showdown of unbeaten.
“We had a weak flood concept and I thought Ethan (Wolf, the intended receiver) was breaking over the top,” Dobbs said. “I thought he was winning on the route, which obviously didn’t happen. The ball went over his head and the safety (Watts) made a good play on it.”
Tennessee trailed 28-7 with 10:40 remaining in the third quarter before mounting a familiar rally.
Kamara scored on a 15-yard run, John Kelly tallied on a 4-yard rush and the Vols moved to within 28-21.
Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight rambled 64 yards for a touchdown that extended the Aggies’ lead to 35-21.
It was Kamara’s 4-yard TD run that put the Vols within striking distance at 35-28 at the 2:07 mark of the fourth quarter.
On the Aggies’ ensuing drive, running back Trayveon Williams broke loose for a 71-yard run, but Tennessee defensive back Malik Foreman chased him down, punched the ball out at the 1 and it rolled out of the end zone for a touchback.
“I was running across the field and saw (Malik) coming,” Todd Kelly Jr. said. “I knew he was going to punch the ball out. I was just waiting on it to happen.”
Texas A&M moved to the Vols’ 18 and set up for a potential game-winning 38-yard field goal for Daniel LaCamera of 38 yards. LaCamera shanked the kick badly to the left after back-to-back timeouts called by Tennessee coach Butch Jones.
The Dobbs-to-Kamara touchdown tied the game and the Vols’ dream of starting 6-0 for the first time since their 1998 championship season, was still alive. Dobbs masterfully directed the 80-yard, six-play drive in just 68 seconds.
Despite their dwindling numbers, the Vols showed the same grit that enabled them to rally from double digit deficits and win four of their previous five games.
Kamara’s impact on the game was as significant as any Vol on the field while filling in for Hurd, who remained in Knoxville sidelined with a concussion. Hurd is expected to play next weekend when No. 1-ranked Alabama visits Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. CBS will televise the game at 3:30 p.m.
Kamara rushed for 127 yards on 18 carries, scoring twice from 15 and 4 yards. He led all receivers with 161 yards on eight catches and the 18-yard TD pass to tie the game while becoming the first player from a Power 5 conference to have at least 150 receiving yards and 125 rushing in 20 years.
“We miss Jalen, but we have a ‘next man up’ mentality,” Kamara said. “I was just doing my job and it wasn’t any more stressful this week than it was last week. We all prepare like we’re the No. 1 guy every week.”
The senior from Norcross, Ga., turned a screen pass in the first half into a 55-yard gain, but was stripped and fumbled – one of five lost fumbles and seven total turnovers in the game.
His 312 all-purpose yards set a school single-game record, breaking Chuck Webb’s old mark of 294 -- all rushing -- set in 1989.
“(It was) his grittiest performance probably of his career, or at least (since) being at Tennessee,” Jones said. “We asked a lot of him and he really stepped up.”
Dobbs passed for 398 yards, completing 28 of 47 passes with two interceptions. Dobbs also caught a 4-yard pass from Jauan Jennings for the Vols’ first score of the game.
Tennessee amassed a whopping 684 yards of total offense – 402 passing and 282 rushing.
Texas A&M, which had lost in the team’s previous two meetings in bowl games, rushed for 353 yards, including 239 on 28 carries by Williams.
Knight passed for 217 yards, hitting on 17 of 34 attempts with two interceptions. He rushed for 110 yards, accounting for five touchdowns.
With a defense depleted by the loss of three key defensive stars and Hurd on the shelf with a concussion and back home in Knoxville, the Vols lost three other players Saturday to apparent head or neck injuries – defensive lineman Danny O’Brien and offensive linemen Dylan Wiesman and Jashon Robertson.
O’Brien was hurt early in the fourth quarter and was taken off the field off the field strapped to a stretcher cart.
There was a quick exposure of the Vols’ defensive predicament.
From Tennessee’s 13, Christian Kirk lined up in the slot, matched against linebacker Colton Jumper, one of several Vols reserves on the field. Kirk moved slightly to his left, planted a foot and beat Jumper to the flat where Knight hit him on the game’s first touchdown.
Jumper rebounded and wound up leading the Vols in tackles (10) for the third straight game and picked off Knight once off a deflection by Foreman.
The Aggies’ opening TD was set up by Dobbs’ fumble, the first of three the Vols lost in the first 15 minutes. They wound up losing five of six. Tennessee fumbled 15 times in its first five games, but lost only three.
“I’m dumbfounded because we spend so much time on ball security,” Jones said. “It’s focus, it’s concentration. It’s the ability to do two things at once.”
Said Kamara, “It has been kind of weird, even with me. I gave up a fumble last week and gave up one this week; just kind of popped up for us in games. Guys have to lock in and focus, starting with me.”
Tennessee, trying to extend an impressive 11-game winning streak, resorted to trickeration against the John Chavis-coached Aggies defense for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
At the line of scrimmage, Dobbs walked away to his quarterback slot, the ball was snapped Kamara and he pitched it on a reverse to wide receiver Jauan Jennings, a former quarterback in high school.
Jennings’ sensational catch on a Hail Mary pass beat Georgia as last week’s game ended, tossed a 4-yard lob to Dobbs in the end zone, capping a 71-yard, six-play drive in 1 minute, 55 seconds.
Knight hit Josh Reynolds on a 6-yard TD pass and later ran 7 yards for a score to give the Aggies a 21-7 first-quarter advantage.
The Vols looked disjointed and several players lost their cool. Late in the first half, Jennings was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty and Nigel Warrior was called for “targeting” and ejected from the game.
Amazingly, the Vols outgained the Aggies 262-215 in the first half, but the fumbles and mental mistakes were costly.
On a nice kickoff return Evan Berry fumbled and moments defensive back Rashaan Gaulden was flagged for pass interference in the end zone and that led to the Aggies’ third touchdown.
The Vols, however, were in familiar territory at intermission. They trailed by double digits – 13-3, 14-0, 21-0, 17-0 – in four of their first five games and won all four times.
SCORING
Tennessee 7 0 7 21 3 0 – 38
Texas A&M 21 0 7 7 3 7 – 45
First Quarter
TAMU – Christian Kirk 13 pass from Trevor Knight (Daniel LaCamera kick), 8:30
TENN – Joshua Dobbs 4 pass from Jauan Jennings (Aaron Medley kick), 3:37
TAMU – Josh Reynolds 6 pass from Knight (LaCamera kick), 2:04
TAMU – Knight 7 run (LaCamera kick), 1:45
Third Quarter
TAMU – Trayveon Williams 7 run (LaCamera kick), 10:40
TENN – Alvin Kamara 15 run (Medley kick), 7:10
Fourth Quarter
TENN – John Kelly 4 run (Medley kick), 7:06
TAMU – Knight 64 run (LaCamera kick), 3:22
TENN – Kamara 4 run (Medley kick), 2:07
TENN – Kamara 18 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 0:41
First Overtime
TENN – FG Medley 34
TAMU – FG LaCamera 34
Second Overtime
TAMU – Knight 1 run (LaCamera kick)
Attendance: 106,248
YARDSTICK
TENN TAMU
First Downs 29 21
Rushes-Yards 51-282 50-353
Passing Yards 402 239
Comp-Att-Int 29-48-2 17-34-2
Plays-Total Yds 99-684 84-592
Fumbles-Lost 6-5 1-1
Punts-Avg 6-45.2 10-41.9
Penalties-Yds 12-84 7-45
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Tennessee: Alvin Kamara 18-127, John Kelly 13-89, Joshua Dobbs 17-57; Texas A&M: Trayveon Williams 28-217, Trevor Knight 15-110, Keith Ford 6-29.
PASSING – Tennessee: Dobbs 28-47-2-398, Jauan Jennings 1-1-0-4; Texas A&M: Knight 17-334-2-239.
RECEIVING – Tennessee: Kamara 8-161, Jennings 5-68, Tyler Byrd 3-60, Jason Croom 3-41; Texas A&M: Josh Reynolds 5-89, Christian Kirk 7-80, Speedy Noil 2-32, Frank Iheanacho1-24.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)