Tennessee punter Trevor Daniel (93) is seen before the start of an NCAA college football game against Appalachian State with the Pat decal on his helmet in support of Pat Summitt Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016 in Knoxville, Tenn. However, Volunteer running back Jalen Hurd jumped on the loose ball for the touchdown in overtime.
Advertisement
Tennessee defensive back Todd Kelley Jr.
S. Carolina tops Vandy • Elliott Fry kicked a career-long 55-yard field goal with 35 seconds left, and the South Carolina Gamecocks rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat host Vanderbilt 13-10 in Will Muschamp’s debut as head coach. With games remaining against Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, Tennessee has plenty of opportunities to impress the committee down the road… provided that it doesn’t stub its toe somewhere along the way.
The Vols know now they better be ready every game.
An offseason of heightened hype almost collapsed in humiliation Thursday night, but luck was on Tennessee’s side as it managed to avoid disaster and beat Appalachian State in overtime thanks to a fumble recovery in the end zone.
Tennessee faced third-and-goal from the 2-yard when Dobbs ran to his right and lost control of the ball as he tried to stretch his arms across the goal line.
“It’s definitely heartbreaking”, said Appalachian State’s Marcus Cox, who rushed for 115 yards.
“I can assure you of this”, Shoop said, “Appalachian State has captured our attention”. As a passer, Dobbs completed 16-of-29 passes for 192 yards, a TD and an INT, again showing problems that plagued the Vols previous year, particularly the lack of a downfield passing game. “That’s all that matters”.
What we saw in the opener against Appalachian State was a superior team, from a superior conference, playing inferior football for most of the game. And that’s not to mention Appalachian State’s brutal mismanagement of the clock at the end of regulation. Although a fumbled punt return by the Vols led to Appalachian State’s first touchdown, luck changed. “I thought they had a great game plan coming in and did some different things that really challenged us schematically in both phases offensively and defensively”, Jones said.
Special teams are just part of the issues Tennessee needs to address.
The offensive line struggled for the Vols as Dobbs was sacked twice and was pressured time and time again. A rushing attack that averaged 4.7 yards per carry a year ago mustered just below 3 yards per attempt Thursday. Taylor Lamb had just 108 yards through the air with a pick and a TD. It wasn’t until later in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, that they allowed him to scramble out and attempt to make plays with his legs. “But next week we’re going to fix some things, tackle better and we’re going to come out blazing”. We made some mistakes.
We’ll find out soon enough.
Tennessee believes it has the elements in place to be “dominant and disruptive”, the buzzwords new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop has consistently used to describe his ideal defense since arriving from Penn State.
Advertisement
App State will look to redeem their self next week when they return home to The Rock and take on Old Dominion at 3:30 p.m. “We found a way to win, got it to overtime and had a clutch play to Josh Malone”. We have been very fortunate and blessed in the history of our school to win a lot of close games at the end, so we have a lot of confidence in how we finish. “… We are ready to get ready for next week”.
