Williams also recognized a mismatch on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick, who used his 6-foot-5 frame to box out 6-0 cornerback Jarmaine Doubs to take a 17-0 lead just before halftime. The final score was 20-13.
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Appalachian State was trying to stage a repeat of its 2007 upset of No. 5 MI, which marked the first time a Football Championship Subdivision program had beaten a Top 25 team. Appalachian State won 11 games previous year and is a favorite to win its league, but no one expected this Tennessee team to struggle on Thursday night.
Butch Jones barely slept on Thursday night following Tennessee’s season-opener against Appalachian State.
Tennessee: The Vols vowed they weren’t overlooking Appalachian State and weren’t distracted by sky-high preseason expectations, but something was clearly missing Thursday.
“I can assure you of this”, Shoop said, “Appalachian State has captured our attention”.
Tennessee was extremely lucky to survive this game. “We have always been that way, so I am really proud of that”, said Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield.
Quarterback Josh Dobbs dived into the end zone on the first possession of overtime and promptly fumbled the football when clocked by a pair of defenders.
His freshman field goal kicker, Michael Rubino, missed an important extra point and later missed a 42-yard field goal. The unfolding of last night’s game was reminiscent of last year’s early-season match-up between Auburn and FCS Jacksonville State, in which the Gamecocks (of Jacksonville State.) kneeled out the clock at the end of a tie game only to inevitably lose in overtime to what ended up being a total shitpile of a Gus Malzahn team.
Tennessee needs to clean up a litany of issues that arose against Appalachian State.
One of the media’s favorites to win the College Football Playoff Championship is still in the driver’s seat to win after the Vols snatched victory from Appalachian State’s hands in overtime on Thursday in Knoxville.
A program that prides itself on special teams had few breakdowns in that area that almost cost Tennessee the game.
The Vols are extremely fortunate to be 1-0 coming out of this game, and while App State isn’t a pushover, it shouldn’t have taken UT to the brink. Cox collected the ball around the 22-yard line, dashed down the left sideline and avoided Sutton at the goal line to complete a 33-yard touchdown play to make it 13-3 with 8:53 remaining in the half.
“On special teams, we have to do a much better job”, Jones said. “I don’t know if we came in too big headed but I think the team learned a lot”, said Vol fan Jacob Kyte. Tennessee rushed for just 127 yards on 43 carries. The Vols have won 22 consecutive season openers played in Tennessee, dating to 1986. The South Carolina and Vandy offenses combined for a 45 percent completion rate, 4.9 yards per pass attempt, and 3.9 yards per carry.
Tennessee appeared to regain momentum early in the 4th quarter however when Dobbs lofted a pass over the shoulder of Josh Malone, who promptly ripped away from a defensive back for a 67 yard touchdown that tied the game. “We had a lot of respect for this opponent”.
It feels good to be here again, live blogging and wrapping up a night of college football. Tennessee averaged 198.6 yards in passing and 223.7 yards in rushing last season. The Volunteer comeback, such as it was, was a combination of a field goal and one long strike pass play. But at the end of the day, we won the ball game. We just didn’t get it finished tonight.
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That’s also why you’ve got to be at least a tiny bit terrified if you’re a Tennessee fan right now, and why you’ve got to be wondering: What did I just watch?
