Vols Grind Out 27-24 Win vs. South Carolina
kicker Aaron Medley #25 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Craig Bisacre/Tennessee Athletics
Malik Foreman forced a fumble and Jalen Reeves-Maybin recovered it at the UT 13-yard line in the final minute to help Tennessee secure a 27-24 victory over South Carolina on Saturday before a crowd of 101,253 at Neyland Stadium.
For the third-straight year, the Vols (5-4, 3-3 SEC) defeated the Gamecocks (3-6, 1-6 SEC) with a late field goal. Aaron Medley gave Tennessee the lead with 9:14 left in the game when he made a 27-yard field goal.
The Vols controlled the game in the first half before South Carolina tied the game at 24-24 with three touchdowns in the third quarter.
Von Pearson set career highs with eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. His 121 receiving yards were the most by a Vol since Justin Hunter had 141 yards and Mychal Rivera had 129 against Missouri in 2012.
UT quarterback Joshua Dobbs finished 20-of-34 for 255 yards, two touchdowns and one interception and added 35 rushing yards on 13 carries. Alvin Kamara recorded his fourth multi-touchdown game, rushing for 30 yards and a touchdown on four carries and catching three passes for 27 yards and a score. Jalen Hurd had 90 yards on 23 carries.
South Carolina’s Perry Orth was 20-of-39 for 233 yards and three touchdowns. Gamecocks star wideout Pharoh Cooper tallied four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Tennessee was strong out of the gate, marching 67 yards down the field on the game’s opening possession to score on a four-yard touchdown run by Kamara. Kamara turned a short pass into a 20-yard gain up the right sideline early in the drive and set the Vols up at the six-yard line with a 23-yard run down the left sideline. The touchdown marked the fourth time this season UT had scored on its opening drive.
Tennessee Volunteers offensive line line of scrimmage during the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Craig Bisacre/Tennessee Athletics
The Vols’ lead grew to 14-0 after UT’s second possession when Dobbs connected with Pearson down the left side of the field for a 37-yard touchdown pass.
Medley made a 44-yard field goal with five minutes left in the second quarter and South Carolina’s Elliott Fry made a 43-yard field goal with just over one minute remaining. The Vols took a 17-3 lead into the half.
Tennessee had 259 yards to the Gamecocks’ 114 in the first half. Hurd had 79 yards on 14 carries and Pearson had 58 yards on four catches before the break.
South Carolina seized momentum early in the third quarter. USC pulled to within 17-10 when Jonathan Walton hauled in a 10-yard touchdown catch from Orth on the Gamecocks’ opening drive of the third quarter. USC drove 80 yards in 11 plays.
The Gamecocks forced a fumble inside the Vols’ own 10-yard line on UT’s next possession and recovered the ball at the seven. After the Vols’ defense kept South Carolina out of the end zone on three-straight plays, Orth completed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Jerell Adams on fourth down to tie the game at 17-17 with 8:29 left in the third quarter.
Dobbs marched the Vols 75 yards down the field in 11 plays on UT’s next possession and hit Kamara for an 11-yard touchdown pass to retake the lead, 24-17.
South Carolina answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a five-yard touchdown pass from Orth to Cooper to knot the score at 24-24 with under a minute left in the third quarter.
Medley made a 27-yard field goal to put Tennessee back in front, 27-24, with 9:14 remaining. Dobbs directed UT 61 yards down the field with a 25-yard pass to Johnathon Johnson and a 30-yard throw to Pearson to put the Vols in the red zone.
The Gamecocks drove 63 yards down the field on their final drive, which ended when Orth completed a pass to Adams and the senior tight end turned up field. Foreman caught him and stripped the ball and Reeves-Maybin recovered it at the UT 13.
Tennessee celebrates homecoming on Nov. 14 when the Vols host North Texas. Kickoff is slated for noon ET on SEC Network.
wide receiver Marquez North #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Craig Bisacre/Tennessee Athletics
DEFENSE HOLDS WINNING THEME
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Even a cursory look at either team’s game notes would have told you that Tennessee and South Carolina would battle to a close final score on Saturday, regardless of what a fan’s heart, head or an oddsmaker’s pick may have said.
Five of the last 10 meetings in the series had been decided by three points or fewer. Since 2000, no SEC matchup had been closer, with an average margin of victory of 7.87 points.
At the end of the game Saturday evening, the scoreboard told the same story it has each of the last three falls. Tennessee pulled out the same three-point victory that it did two seasons ago as a heavy underdog, last season in an even matchup and this season as a sizable favorite.
“Well, what can I say? We found a way to win,” head coach Butch Jones said. “This is a week-to-week league. That’s why it’s the toughest conference in all of college football. I’m proud of our players. We had a number of individuals step up and make critical plays at critical moments of the game.”
Early on, it did not appear this year’s game would have the same dramatics as the previous two. Tennessee drove down the field with ease to a 14-0 lead, outgaining the Gamecocks 177-28 in the first quarter. A 17-3 margin at the half suggested the same.
21 third quarter points for the Gamecocks tied the game on two occasions, and the teams headed to the final period deadlocked at 24-24. No matter how the teams had arrived at that moment, history was ready to repeat itself.
It started with the defense, which got back to the way it played in the first half to shut down South Carolina down the stretch. After allowing touchdowns on three-straight drives in the third quarter, the Vols forced punts on the first three Gamecock possessions of the final period.
“We always talk about a snap-and-clear mentality,” linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said. “Our job is to come out and keep them out of the end zone. Late in the game, we felt like we weren’t going to be denied. We had to stop them, and that is what we did.”
The first stop was a thing of beauty for UT. A drive that began at the USC 20 marched backwards, a three-and-out cemented by a holding penalty and a key play by Chris Weatherd on third down to force USC quarterback Perry Orth out of bounds when he appeared to have open space.
The resulting good field position allowed Joshua Dobbs to direct the Vol offense down the field with a 10-play, 61-yard drive capped by Aaron Medley’s 27 yard field goal to give Tennessee the lead.
The game was not over, though the eventual final score had been reached. Tennessee again forced a three-and-out from the Gamecocks after the ensuing kickoff. A possession later, one first down, then another punt. But with 1:14 remaining, South Carolina again got the ball back for one final attempt to tie or win the game.
Orth completed a pair of long passes to flip the field, 16 yards to Matrick Belton, 17 to Hayden Hurst. On 3rd-and-10 at the UT 45, Orth was again on the money with a pass over the middle to Jerell Adams that appeared to have the Gamecocks well within field goal range. But Malik Foreman punched the ball out, allowing Reeves-Maybin to fall on it at the 13, sealing another tight win against South Carolina.
“It is something that we work on every day,” Reeves-Maybin said. “We have our Maxim One periods every day, where we work on turnovers, recovering the ball and getting it out. It is something that is embedded in us. The guy carrying the ball didn’t see Malik coming, and he punched it out.”
It was just what Jones was looking for.
“He found a way to come up and really make a game-winning turnover,” Jones said of Foreman. “I think we’ve relied heavily on our experiences early on in the season. Our kids never lost their poise. They never looked back and said what-ifs. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. That was great to see Malik make that play and then us recover the fumble.”
