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South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier was not happy on the bench during the first half as his Gamecocks fell behind 21-0.
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A sour Steve Spurrier needed only 2 1/2 minutes to sum up South Carolina's downfall Saturday night.
"OK, it was a good game for television I guess, not a good game for us,'' Spurrier said, moments after Tennessee scored a 27-24 overtime win over the 15th-ranked Gamecocks. "We played just good enough to lose, that's how well we played.''
South Carolina rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit to go up 24-21 on a Ryan Succop's 49-yard field goal with 1:24 left that all but silenced the crowd of 105,962 at Neyland Stadium.
But then UT's LaMarcus Coker breathed new life into the Vols with a 37-yard kick return to the UT 47.
"We couldn't cover a kickoff very well and pin them back there,'' Spurrier said.
And then the Gamecocks couldn't stop the Vols from driving for the tying score.
It took seven plays, 22 yards and two Tennessee fumbles - and two Tennessee fumble recoveries - before Vols' kicker Daniel Lincoln hit a career-long 48-yard field goal with five seconds left to make it 24-24 and send the game to overtime.
"They tried to fumble it to us a couple of times on their last drive, and we couldn't get either one,'' Spurrier said. "We're not real smart and not real good at times.''
Coker ripped off a 12-yard run on the second play of overtime, leading to a 27-yard Lincoln field goal that put the Vols up 27-24 with South Carolina due to take possession.
Spurrier summed up the Gamecocks' overtime possession succinctly within his 2 1/2-minute postgame press conference.
"We dropped a snap from center, threw a 5-yard minus play, overthrew a guy we had there in the end,'' he said. "Give Tennessee credit for kicking a field goal; that's (overtime) the only time we couldn't make one.
"Hopefully next year we'll be good enough.''
Blake's Take: South Carolina senior quarterback Blake Mitchell finished 31-of-45 passing for 290 yards with a TD and interception after replacing Chris Smelley (3-for-5, one interception) on the Gamecocks' fourth possession.
"It's disappointing,'' Mitchell said. "We were down and fought back and came up a little short.
"We ran the ball pretty well, the offensive line blocked, but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot there in the first half.''
Mitchell's 45 pass attempts were the most since former USC quarterback Bobby Fuller had 46 passes against N.C. State in 1990. With 31 completions, Mitchell became the first Gamecock to complete 30 passes since Dondrial Pinkins hit 30 against the Vols on Oct. 30, 2004.
In God's Hands: Succop confessed that he thought his 49-yard field goal with 1:24 left would be the game winner.
"I did; I thought that was gonna do it,'' Succop said. "Two years ago we played here, and my buddy Josh Brown hit the winner with just a few minutes left and we won that game. It was kinda ironic because I think they were both 49 yarders, and I thought it was gonna be the same, but you got to give a lot of credit to Tennessee, they came out there and got in field-goal range.''
Succop was gracious in defeat.
"The Lord blessed us to make that (first) kick,'' he said. "The second kick, we have to thank God for being in the position I was, and it's unfortunate I didn't make it.
"It just came off my foot a little bit to the right.''
Matching Record: Junior receiver Kenny McKinley caught a school record-tying 14 passes for 151 yards. McKinley extended his string of consecutive games with a reception to 30.
Career-High: Senior tailback Cory Boyd had a career-high 160 yards on 20 carries and posted the fifth 100-yard game of his career.
Last Time: It was South Carolina's first overtime game since the Gamecocks lost to then No. 8 UT on Sept. 27, 2003, when the Vols scored a 23-20 win.
© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 17
chucker6 writes:
If you can laugh at the sorry performance that UT put on tonight, then....never mind. Anything of significance would obviously be over your head. Spurrier has done a great job with an average team talent wise. Their defense played inspired football and kicked our buts all over the field most of the night. Without their mistakes and some very lucky bounces for us, SC could have won by two touchdowns. Compare that to Tennessee's prize recruit studded defense, which Chavis's genius approach once again made an average quarterback look like Tom Brady. Another 500+ yd game given up and Chavis has the nerve to talk about UT fighting? Fulmer's group of cronies is so clueless that they may not really understand just how pitiful they really are!
NCCOLTSFAN writes:
Yawnnnnnnnn!
Did I miss something?
Back to Sleep Smokey.
Guard the charts!
Good Dog!
volcop writes:
Another "career day" for the Vol defense!!!!!!!!
hglover40#234154 writes:
I wish we could find the defense that lined up against GA!! Not sure, but looking at the way we've played on defense since GA, I bet we didn't play so great, but GA was really bad at that point in the season. I'm not one of the haters; I think Fulmer has been a darn good coach, BUT we will surely not win out unless something changes on defense.
Please find someone to come in work with the secondary before we play KY!!!!
olozbal#646632 writes:
We were terrible last night. That was probably the worst second half I've ever seen of UT football. They kicked our butts and I've never seen a team have luck go its way this much.
dmjohn2#576066 writes:
Sure it wasn't pretty in the second half, but the Vols won, period. Now let’s get ready for La.Lafayette then Arkansas
CrankE writes:
slo, the better team walked out of there empty handed. Spurrier hits it right on the head, had SC not shot themselves in the foot so many times, they could have routed UT.
Ironcity writes:
The new standards for the UT defense is 500 yards instead of 300. We must allow every number one receiver, running back and QB to have a career day. I will say this, inspite of that we still won the game. I love Coach but he has to make significant moves on the defensive side of the ball.
bmaples writes:
If Tennessee's defense plays Kentucky like they played the second half, Kentucky will win by three touchdowns, especially if Rafael Little is back.
Yes, it's a win, and yes, we're glad to get it. But let's not kid ourselves that all is right with the world, even the world of Vol football.
Let's see what the final games bring. If this team finds a way to win out, then perhaps all our criticizing will prove unnecessary. But to this point, this UT team reminds me of the Louisville team described so accurately in today's Courier-Journal:
"Watching U of L this year has been like talking on a cell phone with spotty reception. One minute things are rolling along fine, the next it's dead air."
Describes this year's Tennessee team to a T.
TommyJack writes:
SloVog: Easy there, little fella
vol4good#206163 writes:
Does anyone know haw many rushing yards Boyd had? He's not near as good as the two fellas at Ark. Oh, and Ark just got their #1 Reciever back in the Lineup. Chavis really has his work cut out in the next 4 weeks. I hope we can get a big lead on Lousiana sisters of the poor U. This way our DB's will have a chance to try some different sets, like mabye the BUMP and RUN coverage.
B_A_VOL writes:
Except UT calls it BUMP and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
westtnvol#518878 writes:
A win over SS and USC is wonderful, regardless if is pretty or not. It seems that even in victory, some that post on here, still can grumble about something. Even though I have spent the last 20 or so years disliking SS, he will go down in history with the names of the greats of college football. And last night the Vols beat him, and our coach was PF. I think that makes them 3-3 since 98. Draw your own conclusion.
Don’t misunderstand me; I’ve not been overjoyed with our play this year. We need improvement in all aspects of the program. We are hurt, and the young players are getting better. The receivers looked better last night. The defense had their moments, both good and bad, last night. Ainge was on and off, but he took responsibility for it. We tackle like a high school team. The defense needs to pick it up.
I do have concern for the philosophy of the entire coaching staff, but if CPF makes adjustments, and we win out, we still have a shot at the East and possibly the conference. We have been in much worse situations.
If you are not a bandwagon fan, you might look for improvement, like I do.
tenndave writes:
I posted this last night and did not get a response. In the first half we blitzed alot and crashed through their line causing multiple problems for them. Granted SC made some adjustments at half and changed quaterbacks but I kept noticing that in the second half when we blitzed, our d backs played back giving up the short pass. I know we did not want to get beat deep but if you are blitzing don't we have to man up to close off the short passes. Mitchell had an outlet to throw to on every blitz thus negating the rush. On a blitz the reciever does not have time to go deep so why did we play back. I replayed the tape and to check on this and I am just flabergasted at how we let them have the short routes when we blitzed.
Any comments??
kesterja#235578 writes:
I agree with you, tenndave. All night long, our secondary was 10 yds off the line of scrimmage. And every completion found our defenders 5 yds or more away. Ridiculous!
SmokeDog72 writes:
Gloat and howl if you want..........
We still got some serious issues. Our offense and defense could have both taken responsiblity had last night turned into a loss.
Volster,
I don't pull against Fulmer to lose. I don't want our boys to lose. I am just calling it like I see it. You tell me how many games out of 10 we are going to win giving up that kind of yardage? How many games are we going to win with one decent offensive drive the whole damn game? I am thrilled that we won facing those odds, but it simply doesn't happen often. Some people think that is cause for great celebration. I think it is pretty damn depressing. We knew what happened to Florida, we were at home, we were coming back from a butt-whipping, we are supposedly more talented, etc, etc.
And what happens? We play one decent half of football, catch a few breaks, and hit a clutch kick. Whoopedy-freakin-doo!!!!!!
I sense another embarrassment right around the corner.
Colliervol writes:
Any win these days is a good win and I'm happy to see it. But, let's get real. How that team (SC) was ever rated in the top 10 is beyond me. Sorry, but one win doesn't change my mind about this staff. As smokedog said, there are major issues that one win won't wipe away. (Me, I'm finding it hard to forget those thrashings that FL and Bama laid on us.) And the second half of this game did nothing to make me forget those issues. Thankfully, Daniel Lincoln and Jacques McClendon bailed them out and kept our hopes up for another couple of weeks. Whether the luck can last through Lexington remains to be seen.
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