By: Matt Laws
Avery Journal-Times
For the Tennessee Vols, it felt like déjà vu all over again. Except this time, they finally caught a break.
The Volunteers dispatched in-state rival Vanderbilt University 27-21 in overtime inside Neyland Stadium on Eric Gordon’s 90-yard interception return that was called back and then ruled a touchdown after an official review.
"At first when they said he was down, I thought he stepped out of bounds,” Head Coach Derek Dooley said. “What they ruled was his knee was down, which is an unchallengeable play. So that's why we didn't challenge it, but they never blew a whistle and they never ruled him down. So if it wasn't down, you could challenge it. So if they had blown a whistle and ruled him down, it wasn't challengeable. And I don't how it got done. I'm just happy we got one."
For the Vols and their fans, the scene after Gordon’s interception was eerily similar to the scene that unfolded in Baton Rouge and Nashville last season after the Vols made plays they thought had won the game. However, this time the luck turned the Vols way.
"I've always told the team you create your own breaks by how you play,” Dooley said. “I think we played in such a manner that you were going to get some breaks with grit, effort and togetherness out there. You can just feel it. You can see it in their eyes. It was just different out there the way they were playing."
The Vols defense opened the game in style as senior Malik Jackson force a Vanderbilt fumble and Rod Wilks recovered the ball. That set up a Tauren Poole touchdown from a yard out to give the Vols an early 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing Vanderbilt possession, quarterback Jordan Rodgers was intercepted by Hickory native and UT senior Austin Johnson. However, the Vols were forced to punt.
After the Commodores missed a field goal early in the second quarter, the Vanderbilt defense intercepted Tyler Bray, who was making his return from a thumb injury, to set up a Z. Stacy touchdown to even the game at 7.
The Tennessee offense struck again in the frame as they embarked on a 10-play 82 yard drive that was capped off by DaRick Rogers catching a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bray to take a 14-7 lead into the half.
The Commodore defense evened the score up midway through the third when A. Barnes intercepted Bray and returned the ball 100 yards for a touchdown. Vanderbilt opened the fourth quarter as they took the first lead of the game when Rodgers hit C. Boyd for a 20-yard touchdown.
The Tennessee offense marched down the field, but saw their drive stall out at the five yard line to attempt a field goal. However, the kick was low and appeared to be blocked, but the Vols benefited from a running into the kicker penalty.
"It wasn't a block, it was a kick-up-the-center's-tail field goal,” Dooley said. “But they ran into them, so we got a break. We weren't dead there yet because there was still time, but it would have been tough. And I couldn't put the field goal team back out there after that. I just wanted to go for it, and if we didn't get it, they would have gotten it at the 2. So that's why I went for it."
That series of events set up a Rodgers two-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to even the game with just over six minutes remaining.
Both teams managed to get drives going, but stalled out in the late going. Vanderbilt was on the edge of field goal range in the closing seconds, but Prentiss Wagner intercepted a Rodgers pass. Tennessee had 20 seconds remaining in regulation, but elected to let the game go into overtime after a screen pass failed to get the first down and some confusion reigned on the Vols sideline.
"Well, we were trying to run a screen play, and we thought we could get a first down,” Dooley said. Tyler, he didn't even know what the play was, so he called something insane in the huddle. We were laughing about it. Our screen play is
called `Soccer Right' and he called `Sucker,' which we don't even have. He just invented a play."
The Volunteers won the toss and elected to go on defense first in the first overtime. After a pair of runs, Gordon stepped in front of a Rodgers pass and raced 90 yard to score, but not after an official review to see if Gordon’s knee was down when he made the interception. Initially, the officials had ruled Gordon was down, but the luck had turned in favor of the Vols.
"You know what? The black cloud over Knoxville blew away, and we got a little sunshine," Dooley said.
During the time that the officials had ruled Gordon down, the Vols were in the endzone celebrating and once the call was made, was stating their case to Dooley to challenge it, which Dooley quickly turned into a learning experience from previous experience.
"Well, they were all trying to tell me what to do, and that's not their job,” Dooley said. “Alright? Instead of worrying about what's coming next, everybody wants me to challenge it, but they don't know it's not a challengeable play. I had to go educate 105 people on the sideline that I can't challenge it, and I probably should have gotten a microphone in the stadium for all the fans who were mad about not challenging it. You've just got to stay calm when stuff like that happens. Focus on your job."
For Tennessee, Bray ended the game 16-of-33 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in his return to the field. However, the sophomore wasn’t pleased with the way he played.
"I played horrible,” Bray said. “I think I completed more passes to the other team than I think I did to ours. Our team stuck in there and our defense played a great game. They have been doing that for the last couple of weeks. If the defense keeps playing like that and the offense steps it up, we are going to win a lot of ball games."
The senior Poole ended the game with 107 yard on 19 carries, while Rogers had 116 yards on 10 catches, which put him at 1,002 yards on the season.
"I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a football team in all my years,” Dooley said. “The adversity these guys have gone through, and what happened last week, I know nobody was expecting us to come out and do much. But we went out there and just gritted out a win and that was fun to watch.”
"But the old Orange Dog did its magic. It was positive all night. We never tucked our tails or put
our head down tonight, and there was a lot of opportunity to."
The victory also sets the stage for a bowl game if the Vols can beat Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday.
"Yeah, we've got one more,” Dooley said. “We can't get too excited. We're not there yet, but we got off the slide today, thank God. We've got a chance to do something I think a lot of people thought we weren't going to do. But we've got to go do it. Kentucky's a good football team. They had a chance to beat Georgia today, so it's going to be a good challenge."
Tennessee looks to continue the positive attitude they carried into Neyland on Saturday as they head to Lexington for a 12:21 kickoff.
Avery Journal-Times
For the Tennessee Vols, it felt like déjà vu all over again. Except this time, they finally caught a break.
The Volunteers dispatched in-state rival Vanderbilt University 27-21 in overtime inside Neyland Stadium on Eric Gordon’s 90-yard interception return that was called back and then ruled a touchdown after an official review.
"At first when they said he was down, I thought he stepped out of bounds,” Head Coach Derek Dooley said. “What they ruled was his knee was down, which is an unchallengeable play. So that's why we didn't challenge it, but they never blew a whistle and they never ruled him down. So if it wasn't down, you could challenge it. So if they had blown a whistle and ruled him down, it wasn't challengeable. And I don't how it got done. I'm just happy we got one."
For the Vols and their fans, the scene after Gordon’s interception was eerily similar to the scene that unfolded in Baton Rouge and Nashville last season after the Vols made plays they thought had won the game. However, this time the luck turned the Vols way.
"I've always told the team you create your own breaks by how you play,” Dooley said. “I think we played in such a manner that you were going to get some breaks with grit, effort and togetherness out there. You can just feel it. You can see it in their eyes. It was just different out there the way they were playing."
The Vols defense opened the game in style as senior Malik Jackson force a Vanderbilt fumble and Rod Wilks recovered the ball. That set up a Tauren Poole touchdown from a yard out to give the Vols an early 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing Vanderbilt possession, quarterback Jordan Rodgers was intercepted by Hickory native and UT senior Austin Johnson. However, the Vols were forced to punt.
After the Commodores missed a field goal early in the second quarter, the Vanderbilt defense intercepted Tyler Bray, who was making his return from a thumb injury, to set up a Z. Stacy touchdown to even the game at 7.
The Tennessee offense struck again in the frame as they embarked on a 10-play 82 yard drive that was capped off by DaRick Rogers catching a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bray to take a 14-7 lead into the half.
The Commodore defense evened the score up midway through the third when A. Barnes intercepted Bray and returned the ball 100 yards for a touchdown. Vanderbilt opened the fourth quarter as they took the first lead of the game when Rodgers hit C. Boyd for a 20-yard touchdown.
The Tennessee offense marched down the field, but saw their drive stall out at the five yard line to attempt a field goal. However, the kick was low and appeared to be blocked, but the Vols benefited from a running into the kicker penalty.
"It wasn't a block, it was a kick-up-the-center's-tail field goal,” Dooley said. “But they ran into them, so we got a break. We weren't dead there yet because there was still time, but it would have been tough. And I couldn't put the field goal team back out there after that. I just wanted to go for it, and if we didn't get it, they would have gotten it at the 2. So that's why I went for it."
That series of events set up a Rodgers two-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to even the game with just over six minutes remaining.
Both teams managed to get drives going, but stalled out in the late going. Vanderbilt was on the edge of field goal range in the closing seconds, but Prentiss Wagner intercepted a Rodgers pass. Tennessee had 20 seconds remaining in regulation, but elected to let the game go into overtime after a screen pass failed to get the first down and some confusion reigned on the Vols sideline.
"Well, we were trying to run a screen play, and we thought we could get a first down,” Dooley said. Tyler, he didn't even know what the play was, so he called something insane in the huddle. We were laughing about it. Our screen play is
called `Soccer Right' and he called `Sucker,' which we don't even have. He just invented a play."
The Volunteers won the toss and elected to go on defense first in the first overtime. After a pair of runs, Gordon stepped in front of a Rodgers pass and raced 90 yard to score, but not after an official review to see if Gordon’s knee was down when he made the interception. Initially, the officials had ruled Gordon was down, but the luck had turned in favor of the Vols.
"You know what? The black cloud over Knoxville blew away, and we got a little sunshine," Dooley said.
During the time that the officials had ruled Gordon down, the Vols were in the endzone celebrating and once the call was made, was stating their case to Dooley to challenge it, which Dooley quickly turned into a learning experience from previous experience.
"Well, they were all trying to tell me what to do, and that's not their job,” Dooley said. “Alright? Instead of worrying about what's coming next, everybody wants me to challenge it, but they don't know it's not a challengeable play. I had to go educate 105 people on the sideline that I can't challenge it, and I probably should have gotten a microphone in the stadium for all the fans who were mad about not challenging it. You've just got to stay calm when stuff like that happens. Focus on your job."
For Tennessee, Bray ended the game 16-of-33 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in his return to the field. However, the sophomore wasn’t pleased with the way he played.
"I played horrible,” Bray said. “I think I completed more passes to the other team than I think I did to ours. Our team stuck in there and our defense played a great game. They have been doing that for the last couple of weeks. If the defense keeps playing like that and the offense steps it up, we are going to win a lot of ball games."
The senior Poole ended the game with 107 yard on 19 carries, while Rogers had 116 yards on 10 catches, which put him at 1,002 yards on the season.
"I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a football team in all my years,” Dooley said. “The adversity these guys have gone through, and what happened last week, I know nobody was expecting us to come out and do much. But we went out there and just gritted out a win and that was fun to watch.”
"But the old Orange Dog did its magic. It was positive all night. We never tucked our tails or put
our head down tonight, and there was a lot of opportunity to."
The victory also sets the stage for a bowl game if the Vols can beat Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday.
"Yeah, we've got one more,” Dooley said. “We can't get too excited. We're not there yet, but we got off the slide today, thank God. We've got a chance to do something I think a lot of people thought we weren't going to do. But we've got to go do it. Kentucky's a good football team. They had a chance to beat Georgia today, so it's going to be a good challenge."
Tennessee looks to continue the positive attitude they carried into Neyland on Saturday as they head to Lexington for a 12:21 kickoff.
