Lincoln gives Vols another kick start : govolsxtra.com

Erik Ainge knew exactly who to thank.

He looked to his left, smiled his best that-was-close smile, and bowed in Daniel Lincoln's general direction.

The freshman kicker had bailed out the senior quarterback.

Lincoln was almost ho-hum about his two late field goals lifting Tennessee to a 27-24 overtime victory against No. 15-ranked South Carolina.

Ainge was relieved. He called it his worst game of the season.

Lincoln called it just another night in what has become a sterling, breakout season for the kid from Ocala, Fla.

"How about this guy right here winning the game for us?" Ainge said of Lincoln in Saturday's post-game interview session.

Lincoln just gave an aw-shucks shrug.

But Tennessee (5-3, 3-2 SEC) is in control of the SEC East division because of the leg of Lincoln.

With five seconds remaining in regulation, Lincoln missed a 43-yard practice field goal.

A motion penalty moved the Vols back five yards and Lincoln calmly drilled a career-long 48-yarder to force overtime.

His chip-shot 27-yarder from the left hash eventually won it for UT in overtime.

"I just needed to take advantage of that next opportunity and make that next kick," Lincoln said. "Everybody's going to talk about the two field goals we made, and those were big plays, but …"

That's when Lincoln proceeded to credit LaMarcus Coker for his kick return and Ainge for moving the offense into his range.

Coker's 37-yard kick return answered South Carolina's 49-yard, go-ahead field goal and put UT at its own 47 with 1:11 remaining.

Ainge managed to complete a couple of short passes to Chris Brown and Arian Foster was living right when his fumble was recovered by UT lineman Jacques McClendon and resulted in an 18-yard gain to the South Carolina 26.

"I just let them know if we got there we were going to make the kick," Lincoln said. "That's my job.

"If I get one opportunity, or three opportunities like I did tonight, it's just about taking advantage of the opportunities and going from there."

For the season, Lincoln has hit 15 of 16 field-goal attempts and has been perfect (29-for-29) on extra points.

"He's a football player," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "He's just a tough kid."

Lincoln seemed unfazed by his first wide-left field goal blown dead by the UT penalty.

"The first kick, I heard the whistle blow and just decided to go ahead and kick it," he said.

"I think Casey (Woods) eased up and was about to pull the ball up when I kicked it. We knew it wasn't going to count."

Tennessee spent most of the second half holding its breath and trying desperately to hold onto a 21-0 halftime lead.

A Vols' offense that had produced 205 yards in the first half, stumbled and stuttered its way to 112 yards in the second half.

Tennessee had two second-half first downs, both coming on the same third quarter drive, before rallying for the biggest first down of the night at the end of regulation.

Ainge finished 26-of-44 for 216 yards and was intercepted once. He was 12-of-23 for 77 yards and off target much of the third and fourth quarters.

"I probably played worse tonight than I have all season," Ainge said. "I really didn't play well.

"I didn't play well tonight, but defense and special teams kept us in it and won the football game for us. They got it done."

Center Josh McNeil let everybody know Tennessee wasn't going away without a fight.

"It has been a rollercoaster ride the past couple of weeks," he said. "But we're back on top of the East right now."