“The guy made a great play; he stuck me”, Dobbs said after the game, recapping the fumble.
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So it’s possible the No. 9-ranked Vols aren’t as listless, undisciplined and disinterested as they looked for much of Thursday’s season-opening, 20-13 overtime escape against a game Appalachian State team that only moved up to the FBS ranks two years ago.
Shoop said Appalachian State has “three great backs”, with senior Marcus Cox coming off three consecutive 1,000-yard plus rushing seasons, including a 103-yard performance against Clemson last season. “We didn’t have expectations to score a lot of points or anything”.
App State led 13-3 at halftime, and had visions of that legendary upset at No. 5 MI in 2007 replaying in everybody’s heads. The Mountaineers have since left the FCS ranks and had their first season as a full-fledged Bowl Subdivision member a year ago.
Luckily for the vols, Jalen Hurd had the presence of mind, grit and determination to recover the ball in the end zone.
“We know how to overcome adversity”, Tennessee cornerback Cam Sutton said.
“The first game of the year is always a game of the unknowns”, Jones said after the game. “A touchdown’s a touchdown”.
Taylor Lamb’s pass on fourth and five from the 20 to Shaedon Meadors in the end zone was knocked away by Tennessee free safety Micah Abernathy to end the contest.
No. 9/10 Tennessee trailed 13-6 entering the fourth quarter, but Josh Dobbs hit Josh Malone on a 67-yard pass down the left sideline.
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.
Appalachian State almost did it again.
“You can point out opportunities where we should have won the football game”, Lamb said.
Appalachian State received an early break when Tennessee senior Cameron Sutton fumbled a punt and Mountaineers senior Alex Gray recovered at the Volunteers’ 36-yard line.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers have done it before, and they nearly pulled it off once again. Dobbs finished with -4 rushing yards on the night after taking two big losses on a pair of sacks.
Sure, the Vols looked nothing like a CFP team on Thursday night, but Appalachian State isn’t an average Sun Belt team. That area remains a major concern.
Tennessee Coach Butch Jones had this to say about the Mountaineers: “They’re a physical, tough football team that’s very active in their defensive front, which causes some issues up front”. The Mountaineers are the only team to ever win a bowl game in a FBS rookie season, beating OH 31-29.
We have to be careful not to nitpick everything when there’s only one football to go around, especially in a game when the Vols significantly lost time of possession.
Tennessee believes its defense has the depth that can enable the Volunteers to avoid the blown leads that haunted them in each of their losses past year.
Vols QB Joshua Dobbs was 16 of 29 for 192 yards and 1 TD. The bad news? You just survived a sloppy, scary, ugly game against Appalachian State.
Tennessee: The Volunteers face Virginia Tech at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Dobbs will be the primary reason for the Vols to probably get into the College Football Playofffs, which means they have to be on top of the powerhouse SEC Conference. With the clock bleeding they declined to use their final timeout and bring on the kicking unit, instead snapping the ball with eight seconds left. I keep going back to a stat I first heard Jimmy Hyams use past year: throw out games against Western Carolina and North Texas when the Vols were never really going to run Dobbs to keep him healthy, and Tennessee is now 12-1 when Dobbs runs for 35+ yards and 1-4 when he doesn’t. Too often, there were big holes or players getting sucked inside while Mountaineers gained big yards on the perimeter.
Missouri State wins • Nick Masoner ran for 132 yards and Jason Randall had two rushing touchdowns as host Missouri State trounced NAIA member Southwestern College 57-0.
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It wasn’t as easy as it looked: IN trailed 13-12 going into the final quarter. However, just like 2015, he had six catchable passes-one for a touchdown-dropped by receivers.
