After falling down 21-0 in the second quarter, Tennessee ripped off 38 consecutive points and snapped the streak with a 38-28 win.
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Behind one massive second-half surge, Tennessee-especially Jones-started to make believers even out of the most vocal critics.
An offense that tallied a number of explosive plays in the first half shockingly went quiet in the second half. Florida’s first five possessions of the second half: five three-and-outs.
Just when I thought they should ban any and all preseason polls and college football magazines in Tennessee…. “I do know this, unless we take care of this (beating Vanderbilt), it’s never going to matter”. “And that’s one thing you heard me talk about over and over that we had done a pretty good job of since we’ve been here”.
When Juauan Jennings’ corralled a juggling grab and tight roped the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown that gave Tennessee the lead early in the fourth quarter, the celebration was on.
NEYLAND EFFECT: The boisterous home crowd at Neyland Stadium contributed to four positive plays for Tennessee, including one delay of game and two early Florida timeouts in the first half and one false start in the third quarter. Antonio Callaway, who earlier called for a fair catch inside the five yard line and dropped the punt, called for another fair catch, this time at the Gators’ two yard line.
A rushing touchdown from Dobbs put Tennessee up 38-21 with 8:27 to go, capping a 28-point scoring spurt that covered 8:32 of game time and sucked all of the wind out of Florida’s sails.
“We were a little nervous about protection”, McElwain said.
WHAT WE’LL BE TALKING ABOUT: Depends on your perspective. It’s fourth-and-1, we have to score.
Georgia (3-1, 1-1) lost for the first time under new coach Kirby Smart and looked overmatched. Jordan Cronkite and Jordan Scarlett both scored a touchdown, giving the Gators a 21-3 lead at the half. Dobbs also ran for 80 yards and a touchdown.
But something seemingly happened behind closed doors.
Florida had eight yards in the entire third quarter.
Kentucky 17, SC 10: In Lexington, Ky., Benny Snell Jr. scored the go-ahead touchdown from 1 yard out midway through the fourth quarter, Boom Williams broke a 43-yard TD and Kentucky held off SC for its third straight series victory over the Gamecocks.
The comeback began modestly with a 28-yard Aaron Medley field goal with 2:39 left in the first half.
“This team was not going to be denied”, Jones said postgame.
“It was hard. It was annoying as a Tennessee fan, watching Tennessee lose for 11 straight years”, safety and Knoxville native Todd Kelly Jr. said.
On third-and-10, Dobbs hit Josh Malone for a 42-yard score and a 31-21 lead.
Western Kentucky (2-2) answered quickly, needing just two plays to find the end zone on Mike White’s 8-yard pass to Shaquille Johnson. Dobbs ran for 22 yards, then scrambled for 4 before a determined Hurd hammered his way through multiple defenders for 19 more.
“Give him the credit”, McElwain said of Dobbs. “You can feel it coming once you start getting points on the board”. Tennessee finished with 498 yards. He was 16 of 32 for 319 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. But instead they fought back, proving once again that it’s a 60 minute game.
Dobbs, the reigning Southeastern Conference offensive player of the week, will try to help the 11th-ranked Volunteers (4-0, 1-0 SEC) take command of the Eastern Division race Saturday when they visit No. 25 Georgia (3-1, 1-1).
FLORIDA: Perhaps the Gators’ defense isn’t quite as good as its statistics suggested.
“A lot of defenses can’t recover from that”. “As I said, ‘Back it up!’ They didn’t back it up, did they?” “It was the next guy in”.
How many seasons should once proud fans accept having the rug pulled out from under them? After Hurd punched it to the 1, Jason Croom dropped a Dobbs pass in the end zone. Two plays later, Trevor Knight threw a 92-yard TD pass to Josh Reynolds.
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The wild victory was not only Tennessee’s first in the series since 2004, but it was the biggest win of head coach Butch Jones’ career.
