“We had expectations to win the ball game”.
Advertisement
Still best known for its landmark upset of no. 5 MI in the Big House in 2007, the Mountaineers squandered an opportunity to pull off a repeat feat against another top-10 team.
Tennessee struck quickly for a pair of first downs to advance the ball for a first and goal at the ASU five, but the Mountaineers stuffed two Vol runs and linebacker Keenan Gilchrist stripped Dobbs of the ball on a third-down scramble near the goal line. He’s orchestrated too many late lost leads, and against Appalachian State there’s no reason his top-10 team should have needed OT to survive.
Nothing else about the opener to Tennessee’s highly anticipated football season Thursday night went according to plan.
The Volunteers – largely thought of as a SEC title contender and even a College Football Playoff contender before the season – barely squeaked out a win against Appalachian State of the Sun Belt on Thursday night.
Wes Rucker from govols247.com and former Tennessee receiver Jayson Swain break down the game in the video above.
And though he fumbled at the goal line in overtime, running back Jalen Hurd recovered the ball in the end zone for what became the game-winning touchdown.
Appalachian State could have won in regulation had Mountaineers freshman kicker Michael Rubino made either an extra point after his team’s second touchdown or a 42-yard field goal attempt in the second half.
The Mountaineers had a shot to win the game in regulation but it ended thanks to some disgusting clock management. Or maybe an Appalachian State that went 11-2 a year ago with the 11th ranked defense in the county is pretty good.
“At the end of the day we found a way to win the football game”, Head Coach Butch Jones said. “That’s all that matters”. The 39-yard boot from Aaron Medley cut the Mountaineer lead to 13-6. Hurd rushed for 110 yards but averaged only 3.9 yards per carry, and Dobbs – known for his running ability – finished with -4 yards on the ground, including sacks, with his biggest contributions coming in overtime. We’ll find out about that soon enough with the Battle at Bristol looming. The defense straight up dominated the Vols offense and limited them to just 127 yards rushing.
That’s probably true. But it also doesn’t change one simple fact: On opening night, when the whole world was watching, the Vols did not look good. Although the Hokies endured a substandard season previous year, Foster has historically presided over one of the top defenses in the country.
The biggest surprise, though, was that Dobbs – one of the SEC’s better dual-threat quarterbacks – was held to negative rushing yards for the first time in his Tennessee career. The Volunteer defense came up with a crucial interception on App State’s first drive in the third quarter, which led to a field goal. “(We’ll) learn from our mistakes and get the little things corrected”. “We talk about covering down as an offense and following the ball”. Tennessee follows this game by facing Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway in a matchup expected to draw the largest recorded crowd in college football history.
Tennessee made a lot of drive-killer mistakes that almost cost them.
Advertisement
Wise coaches from all walks of life say, “There’s no such thing as an ugly win”. They’re going to tell me that App State is a tough club, which made a bowl game previous year.
