With an all-but-assured trip to the SEC Championship Game on the line during Saturday’s home against No. 8 Georgia, Tennessee had to have figured victory was the only way to get to Atlanta.
Apparently there’s another way to the Georgia Dome, though.
After the Vols’ demoralizing 41-14 loss to the Bulldogs, a trip to the Peach Bowl sure seems within reach.
With the loss, the Vols (4-2, 2-2 SEC) fell to second in the SEC East and would need two losses by Georgia (5-1, 3-1 SEC) to make it to the Dec. 6 league title game.
Following the game, UT coach Phillip Fulmer apologized to the fans for his team’s performance and took the blame for some of the game’s play calling.
Fulmer said his team would use the upcoming bye week to figure out what went wrong after a 4-0 start turned into a two-game losing streak.
“It’s a good time for soul searching,” he said. “It’s a time for evaluating where we are and what we need to do. That’s exactly what we’re going to do as a staff and a football team.”
It’s not as if the Vols were out of it from the beginning against the ‘Dawgs.
With seven seconds remaining in the first half, the Volunteers had the ball inside the Georgia 1-yard line. Trailing 13-7, a score would have given UT the momentum and a halftime lead.
Then the turning point came.
Tennessee junior quarterback Casey Clausen made contact with fullback Troy Fleming, causing a fumble. The handoff was intended to go to tailback Jabari Davis for an off-tackle run to the end zone, but the result was a 92-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Georgia rover Sean Jones.
Just like that, it was 20-7.
Just like that, the rout was on.
“That last play before the half was one of the largest momentum swings I’ve ever seen,” Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. “It was a big boost for us and I’m sure it had to be extremely tough for them to overcome.”
He was right.
The Vols’ first drive of the second half faltered, allowing UGA to put together a 14-play, 83-yard drive to take a commanding 27-7 lead.
And things would only get worse for the Vols.
On Tennessee’s next two drives, the Volunteer offense only executed two plays – both Clausen interceptions. Georgia’s David Pollack pressured Clausen into throwing a bad pass on the first interception and a tipped ball led to the second.
“I got to him (Casey) a little bit,” Pollack said. “Our ends are getting better at pass rushing, pressuring the quarterback more, we got some good blitzes and the tackles inside are doing a great job.”
Four UGA offensive plays later and the Vols were down, 41-7.
After the four-touchdown run by the Bulldogs, Tennessee went primarily to a ground attack attempting to pump life into the offense. It wasn’t all that effective, though.
And that seemed to be a trend with the Volunteer offense, according to offensive coordinator Randy Sanders.
“We didn’t run it. We didn’t block very well. We didn’t throw it very well. We didn’t catch it very well. We didn’t pass-protect very well,” Sanders said.
“It was one of the games you hope you never have, and we had tonight.”
The Vols’ lone highlight of the night was an impressive touchdown reception by wideout Mark Jones early in the second quarter. Jones jumped over a Bulldogs defender to steal an interception and race 90 yards for the longest touchdown pass in the history of Tennessee football.
A late score from backup quarterback C.J. Leak to freshman wide receiver Bret Smith prevented the worst SEC home loss in the history of Tennessee football.
After the disappointing loss, Fulmer said the Vols would still hold onto hopes of playing for a conference crown, but that pride was the main motivation left.
“Anything can happen,” Fulmer said. “It would be difficult now, but anything can happen.
“Right now I’m looking for pride and focus to be back where we’ve been before.”
