The No.11-ranked Volunteers will take on the No. 25-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at the Georgia Dome Saturday.
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Trailing 21-0 in the second quarter, the Vols scored 38 unanswered points and held Florida to only eight yards in the third quarter.
Despite giving up three first-half touchdowns and going into the locker room down 18 points, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones knew the outcome of the game was less clear than it looked to be at halftime.
Georgia (3-1, 1-1) lost for the first time under new Coach Kirby Smart and looked overmatched.
The two scores 17 seconds apart were followed four minutes later by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Nick Fitzgerald to Farrod Green that made it 41-21 just before the end of the third quarter. That ended tonight. After all the trash talk by “DBU” as Florida calls themselves (Although we all know LSU is DBU) saying “Duck do not pull trucks.” after you sift through the garbage what Quincy Wilson was saying was there is no way Tennessee beats Florida. It’s a win that could go a long way in Tennessee winning the SEC East and competing in Atlanta for the SEC title in December.
Meanwhile, Tennessee turned those into 35 second half points.
As his teammates erupted in jubilation around him and 100,000-plus orange-and-white clad fans released 11 years of pent-up frustration, Tennessee defensive end Derek Barnett stoically strolled across the Neyland Stadium field.
The Florida Gators played not to lose and expected Tennessee to lay down, but they didn’t and ended the 11-year losing streak.
Tennessee safety Todd Kelly Jr. easily intercepted it. He was 16 of 32 for 319 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Hurts was 16-of-24 passing for 164 yards and ran for 54 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown to cap the opening drive.
“We’re building something special here”, Jones said triumphantly outside the locker room after the game. These are life lessons. “Your dreams, goals, aspirations are on the line every single week so you can’t take any week for granted”, Tennessee senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs said.
“What it does is test who you are as a person, test who you are as a man”, McElwain said. But, in the second half, they got shredded like a high school defense giving up 325 yards – more than they gave up in the first three games of the season COMBINED. Antonio Callaway’s fumble could have been big.
But even then, it was an uneasy 21-3 lead because Florida’s best pass defense was the dropped pass.
Meanwhile, Florida got decent play early from backup quarterback Austin Appleby, who started because of Luke Del Rio’s sprained knee.
“We were scoring, we were getting hot, and I kept going to the defense and offense and just saying, ‘We’ve got more plays to make”. “Just go out – it’s simple – and execute as we do in practice”. We’ve just got to play our brand of football.
And any thoughts of them being a second half team went out the window with Joshua Dobbs’s interception early. The defense was a big part of that comeback, it helped to keep them alive.
The Vols came out like gangbusters in the second half.
Tennessee (4-0, 1-0) managed just 1 yard on four plays, including a dropped pass in the end zone on second down.
Tennessee, which was ninth in the preseason poll, should move back into the top-10 this week.
It was an important win for Auburn (2-2, 1-1) and Coach Gus Malzahn, who faced increased criticism after losses to Top 25 opponents Clemson and Texas A&M.
The Volunteers’ next three weeks will define their season, not the first four.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Benny Snell Jr. scored the go-ahead touchdown from 1 yard midway through the fourth quarter, Boom Williams broke a 43-yard touchdown and Kentucky (2-2, 1-1) held off SC (2-2, 1-2) for their third consecutive series victory over the Gamecocks.
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It’s not as weird as Tennessee’s performance in the game itself, but it’s pretty weird.
