There Are No Winners After Preseason Darling Tennessee’s Last-Minute Escape

“I’m not into moral victories”.

Saturday’s marquee games - including No. 1 Alabama against No. 20 USC and No. 4 Florida State against No. 11 MS - could have an immediate impact on the race for the January playoff.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Lamar Jackson accounted for a school-record eight touchdowns and 405 offensive yards by halftime to help No. 19 Louisville dismantle Charlotte 70-14 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams. The Volunteers were lucky beyond belief to beat Appalachian State in overtime Thursday night, not that Appy is any appetizer.

“The first game of the year is always a game of the unknowns”, Jones said after the game. But the first big game of this year gave us an underdog with an early and sustained lead, a tie game, overtime and a fluke play for a win that will stay on highlight “what-the-heck-HOW?!?” montages through the season’s end, certainly. “I was scrambling, and I just tried to get there as fast as I could at the sideline”. Bob Shoop’s defense made a stand and earned Tennessee a hard-fought victory after stopping Appalachian State on downs. But I just spent the last few hours of my life staring into the depths of the SEC East abyss, so there are no winners right now.

Appalachian State had a chance to force a second overtime but junior quarterback Taylor Lamb’s fourth-and-5 throw for junior receiver Shadeon Meadors fell incomplete in the end zone.

In 2015, the Volunteers averaged 224 yards per game rushing, 199 passing and 422 overall.

“We had some big plays”.

Cam Sutton, the nation’s leading punt returner last season, fumbled his first attempt Thursday to set up an Appalachian State touchdown. The offensive line struggled to protect quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who also had a hand in Tennessee’s inability to move the ball. “We knew that it was going to be a great challenge”.

Tennessee had far more answers in the second half, though, they put together a drive for a field goal. On Thursday, under the weight of heavy expectations, the Vols erased a 10 point deficit and figured out a way to win.

The Vols defense began to step up and held the Mountaineers scoreless in the third quarter, while Tennessee converted a field goal to pull without one possession. “As you know we are going to be challenged game in and game out and I think the next thing in the evolution in our program is our players realizing every team is going to play their best against Tennessee”. “We just want to take the win and improve from it”. However, a missed extra point and a missed field goal proved costly. His dart into the Tennessee corner of the end zone was batted down as Maedors jumped for the ball, but Abernathy knocked it away to save the game for the Vols.

In another SEC game Thursday, Elliott Fry kicked a career-long 55-yard field goal with 35 seconds left, and SC rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Vanderbilt 13-10 in Will Muschamp’s debut as head coach.

This marks Tennessee’s first Thursday night regular-season game since a 41-3 victory over MS in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 3, 1996.

Ending the half with senior cornerback Mondo Williams making an interception, Satterfield told the team that if they stayed close, the game was there to win.

The App State rushing attack was as good as advertised all preseason.

“We have a lot of confidence in how we finish and we didn’t get it finished tonight”, ASU coach Scott Satterfield said.