The No. 9-ranked Tennessee Volunteers averted disaster Thursday night with a 20-13 overtime win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers at Neyland Stadium.
On the first possession of the extra frame, quarterback Josh Dobbs attempted to scramble into the end zone on 3rd-and-goal, but a defender stood him up and he fumbled, only for teammate Jalen Hurd to recover it in the end zone for the go-ahead score.
Fox Sports 1's Clay Travis tried to play it off as normal:
AL.com's Brent Conklin didn't:
Hurd finished with 110 yards on the ground, carrying a Tennessee offense that struggled throughout. Dobbs, who was 16-of-29, passed for just 192 yards.
The Volunteers defense was solid, though, allowing 292 total yards, and it came up big to close the game, preventing Appalachian State from gaining a first down in overtime.
Coincidentally, Thursday marked the nine-year anniversary of the Mountaineers' upset over the No. 5-ranked Wolverines at Michigan Stadium—when Appalachian State was still an FCS program.
Entering the season as one of the favorites to win the SEC East, the Volunteers had a chance to start the year on the right foot against a seemingly lesser opponent from the Sun Belt Conference.
But Appalachian State came out and punched Tennessee in the mouth when quarterback Taylor Lamb hammered in a five-yard touchdown to cap off a 36-yard scoring drive that was set up by Volunteers punt returner Cameron Sutton's lost fumble.
When Tennessee's offense got the ball, it looked out of sync despite setting up a field goal on the following possession.
After two straight punts, Appalachian State went up 13-3 when Lamb hit Marcus Cox for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 8:53 left in the first half.
The lead held into halftime, and ESPNU was preparing for the upset:
So was Tony Barnhart of the SEC Network:
ESPN's Brett McMurphy started toying with the idea of getting Appalachian State out of the Sun Belt:
The Mountaineers defense remained stout in the third quarter, holding Tennessee to just a field goal.
The effort was giving ESPN's Adam Amin images of grandeur:
But Tennessee came roaring back. The offense woke up in the fourth as Dobbs hit Josh Malone for a 67-yard touchdown to help the Volunteers tie the game at 13-13 with 10:30 remaining.
CBS Radio's Troy Hughes was expecting the worst for Appalachian State's upset hopes:
After a possession from both sides, Appalachian State set itself up with great field possession at Tennessee's 28-yard line with 7:31 remaining thanks to a 45-yard punt return by Jaquil Capel.
But Appalachian State's offense went backward, setting up freshman Michael Rubino for a 42-yard field-goal attempt, the first of his collegiate career. The young kicker, who missed an extra point earlier in the game, pushed his kick wide right with 5:30 to go.
It gave Tennessee, which had all of its timeouts, the ball back with plenty of time to find a go-ahead score, much to the horror of NBC Sports' Kevin McGuire:
However, once again, Appalachian State's offense regained possession at its 14-yard line with 2:39 remaining.
As the Mountaineers' final possession of the fourth quarter began, ESPN.com's Darren Rovell reminded fans how far apart these teams appeared to be on paper:
After three first downs, the Mountaineers moved the ball to the Tennessee 34-yard line with 32 seconds left, but a snuffed-out screen pass killed the momentum as regulation ended.
NFL Network's Scott Cole didn't like how the underdogs managed the final half-minute:
Appalachian State paid for it as Tennessee pulled out the win and destroyed the Mountaineers' dreams of a headlining upset to start the season.
Postgame Reaction
In a game that was much closer than almost everyone expected, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones tried to sift through the rubble that was his team's performance, per Jesse Simonton of SECCountry.com: "A night where just about anything and everything went wrong we found a way to win. ... We knew it was going to be a great challenge. You don’t expect (App State) to just come in here (and lay down). ... I’m never going to apologize for a win."
In the opposite locker room, Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield was proud of his team's efforts, per Jonathan Toye of the Knoxville News Sentinel:
They came out here and fought. We knew they would … We have been very fortunate and blessed in the history of our school to win a lot of close games at the end, so we have a lot of confidence in how we finish. We just didn't get it finished tonight. ... I am not into moral victories … It hurts right now, but we will come back strong next week.
Appalachian State will now see its schedule take an easier turn as it takes on Old Dominion next week before a meeting with Miami (Florida) at home.
Tennessee will head to Bristol Motor Speedway where the infield will be converted to a football field. There, it will host Virginia Tech in an attempt to pull off a convincing win against a power-conference opponent.
Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.