Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry had no doubts about his team's last drive.

"I knew we were going to score," he said.

And he knew what he would do next. He would reduce the game to one two-point conversion.

One play: DeBerry and his Falcons came that close to shaking Rocky Top to its core Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.

One play and one point: That's all that stood between the 20-point-underdog Falcons and 11th-ranked Tennessee. Go figure.

The play was one of the few that didn't work for Air Force. It was a pitch to wingback Chad Hall, who already had gained 81 yards on 11 carries against a bewildered UT defense.

But when Xavier Mitchell busted up the play behind the line, UT had a 31-30 victory, and DeBerry had no regrets.

"Give him credit," DeBerry said. "He made a great play."

Give the Air Force credit, too. Never mind all the disadvantages that a service-academy team has to overcome to compete in big-time college football. Never mind that the Falcons didn't have nearly enough speed on defense to slow UT's passing attack.

They found a way to make it a one-play game. They just didn't make the play.

DeBerry called the play long before it was necessary. He called it after Air Force recovered an onside kick at its own 42 with 2:36 to play.

Fifty-eight yards in 2:36. That was no big deal for an offense that had just gone 78 yards in 12 plays on its last possession.

"I knew we were going to score," DeBerry said.

He said as much to his team before the drive. He told his players something else, too. He told them after they scored, they would go for two.

"I got a smile out of each and every one of them," DeBerry said.

The Falcons took it from there, covering the 58 yards in only six plays. They just couldn't make the three extra yards on the conversion or pull off another onside kick.

So they return to the Mountain West Conference, a few yards short of a stunning upset; the Vols step shakily but gratefully into Florida week with the CBS showdown still intact.

"Expect the unexpected" comes to mind.

Who would have thought UT would jump out to a 35-0 lead against ninth-ranked Cal in the season opener? And who would have thought UT would come within a play of losing to an Air Force team picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West?

You probably spent half of August wondering how UT would hold up against Cal's multi-talented offense. You probably didn't devote half a second to Air Force's offense until you watched it go 72 yards for a touchdown on its first possession.

Cal's offense was supposed to be dynamic. Air Force's offense was supposed to be a curiosity piece.

UT dominated Cal's offense. It never had a clue against Air Force's option-oriented flexbone offense, which Shaun Carney operated almost flawlessly.

Carney is a 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior. He's also the tallest man in the Falcons backfield.

But all the Falcons looked taller when they got the football. They rushed for 281 yards against a UT defense that sometimes goes three games without giving up that much.

After UT rallied to take a 17-10 halftime lead, you probably thought defensive coordinator John Chavis would make a few defensive adjustments, and the Vols would break the flexbone with ease in the second half.

Not exactly. Instead, the Falcons needed only seven plays to go 75 yards for a touchdown on their first possession of the second half.

The most dramatic play of the game was Air Force's two-point conversion. But the play most indicative of the game occurred with 6:14 to play in the third quarter.

One official signaled a touchdown for Air Force as Carney dove into the UT end zone. Another official signaled a touchdown for UT safety Jonathan Hefney as he ran across the goal line at the opposite end of the field.

Confused? Then you know how the defenses felt Saturday night.

Carney fumbled after the score, and Hefney picked up the loose ball and ran the length of the field for what he thought was a UT touchdown. Another official raised his arms, unaware the play was over before Hefney picked up the ball.

Two touchdown calls on one play: How appropriate in a game in which the offenses took turns executing long drives against overmatched defenses.

After watching those match-ups repeatedly go the offenses' way, it's no wonder DeBerry eschewed an extra-point kick to send the game into overtime. In a game like this, what was 3 more yards?

He made the right call. But Mitchell made the right play.