The scene was very familiar for Tennessee fans, players and coaches on Saturday night.
After roaring out of the gates, the Vols sputtering and all-out stalled at times as an early 17-0 lead evaporated against a pesky South Carolina (3-6, 1-6 SEC) team that tied it once at 17-17 and again at 24-24 before ultimately falling 27-24 to the Vols in Neyland Stadium in front of the fifth Neyland Stadium crowd of 100,000+ in 2015.
After blowing three two-possession leads earlier in the season to Florida, Oklahoma and Arkansas and then ultimately losing, Tennessee made the play it needed at the end to get the win against the Gamecocks.
And that play came at an ideal time. South Carolina was carving the Vols up as it moved down the field on a potential go-ahead drive late. Quarterback Perry Orth found tight end Jerell Adams, who broke a tackle and fought his way inside the UT 20 with just over 30 seconds remaining, putting SC easily in field-goal range and within striking distance of a devastating go-ahead touchdown.
Malik Foreman, who battled for his starting nickelback job this week and has been maligned all season, saved the day – popping the ball loose, allowing linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to hop on it and secure the win.
The play that gave the #Vols the win pic.twitter.com/auy7rPrpYd
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) November 8, 2015
“Part of the evolution of a football team and a football program is finding a way to win the football game when you know and your players know they didn’t play their best,” head coach Butch Jones said after the game. “I give South Carolina a lot of credit. We knew they were coming in here. We knew we were going to get their best effort. Coach Elliott has done a tremendous job in keeping that program together. We knew that they were going to play their best. Again, in a week-to-week season, to be able to find a way to win like this is very, very gratifying. Now we need to get the problems corrected, which we will. But, I’m just happy for the players because their resiliency showed.”
There certainly will be some problems to work through. Several of them showed up again after appearing previously in the season. Tennessee moved the ball at will early, putting together back-to-back long drives to build a two-score lead in the opening minutes. The first scoring drive was capped off by a a four-yard run by Alvin Kamara, the second highlighted by a 37-yard touchdown strike from Joshua Dobbs to a wide-open Von Pearson.
After the teams exchanged field goals, it was all South Carolina for the middle portion of the contest as the Gamecocks stormed back. South Carolina out-gained UT 165-72 yards in the third quarter. After piling up 98 yards on the ground in the first quarter, UT had just 17 total rushing yards in the second half.
It was a similar scenario to what has played out several times before this year for UT. The Vols rolled early, got stagnant, gave the opponent confidence and turned it into a battle.
“We had way too many negative-yardage plays and any time you have first and 15, second and 12, second and 14, that really puts your offense behind,” Jones said. “So both sides of the ball – we have to do a much better job particularly on early downs and mixed downs.”
But, unlike the other similar situations earlier in the season, the Vols found a way to get it done. The level of opponent certainly had something to do with it. Perhaps it was the confidence gained in recent weeks that helped the Vols finish. Maybe it was just their night after some bad breaks earlier in the year.
Regardless, film is easier to watch after a W. Mistakes are easier to correct. Questions are easier to find answers to. The Vols (5-4, 3-3 SEC) found a way to survive this one and now get a contest against FBS bottom-feeder North Texas next week before jumping back in the SEC fray at Missouri the following week on their quest to finish with the most wins since 2007 for the program.
“I think this game will be huge for a learning aspect,” said senior offensive tackle Kyler Kerbyson. “We didn’t win the way we wanted to, and that was on us. That was our mistakes, our mess-ups. We can watch the film and really learn from this game, and really understand our weaknesses and our strengths, and be able to get better as a team, which is what you want to do with games like these.”
“I’m never going to apologize for winning,” Jones said.
He doesn’t have to. For a program that hasn’t been able to consistently do it in over a decade now and a team that has blown several games this year, even an ugly win can look beautiful right now.
Final stats from the #Vols’ 27-24 win over South Carolina pic.twitter.com/VCdqJoU8wL
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) November 8, 2015
