Tennessee gets needed hype check against App State
Tenne see
Mateen Cleaves Jersey won on a fumble recovery for an offensive touchdown in overtime.Few people pictured that as the scenario in which the No. 9 Vols the most-hyped team of the 2016 preseason would pull out a victory against Appalachian State on Thursday night in Knoxville.MORE: Yet thats what happened when quarterback Josh Dobbs lost the ball while leaping toward the goal line, only to have Jalen Hurd streak in and wrestle the ball from a pile of Mountaineers defenders.. Just like nobody drew it up.MORE: | You know what comes next. Tenne see is going to fall in the polls. Tenne see is going to get kicked around a little bit for not looking the part after the summer of Rocky Top Fever. Tenne see will have people asking, How did this almost happen?In other words, Tenne see just got the hype knocked out of it. Its a good thing this time.The Vols looked nowhere near the part of that team for most of the night, especially in the first half. Cam Sutton fumbled a punt, Preston Williams couldn't reel in a touchdown, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Dobbs threw a red
Caron Butler Jersey -zone interception.App State led 13-3 at halftime, and had visions of that legendary upset at No. 5 Michigan in 2007 replaying in everybodys heads. Could the Mountaineers
Reggie Jackson Jersey strike again nine years to the day?MORE: Perhaps fittingly, Tenne see offensive coordinator Mike DeBord who held the same position at Michigan on that fateful day might be responsible for the play that changed the game. On a first-and-10 with 10:30 left in regulation, Dobbs hit Josh Malone for a 67-yard touchdown that tied the game. This time, it was the Mountaineers who had the special teams gaffes with a mi sed field-goal attempt and extra point.Tenne see scratched to overtime, which tends to favor the favorite. Dobbs made that dash for the end zone, sacrificed his body and lost the ball. Hurd came
Isiah Thomas Jersey up with it somehow. The ensuing stop was inevitable. Subdued but survived. A team that lost four close games last season learned its le son.You know what? Thats . . . OK. Ask Michigan how it feels to lose that game to Appalachian State. It slipped the program into an eight-year coma. The Vols came into the season ready to snap out of theirs.MORE: Yet they found how little the list-making season means. They wont win the SEC East title averaging 3.0 yards per carry with that backfield, and a week of getting knocked down a little bit wont hurt. Tenne see is 1-0, and thats all that matters for now.Dobbs, Sutton and Hurd were among those who ended up making the big plays when it mattered. Thats a start,
Ersan Ilyasova Jersey and that means more than almost losing to App State.Dont worry. Theyll get more chances to live up to the hype, like next week with 150,000 people watching against Virginia Tech at the Battle of Bristol.Thats the scenario we had pictured for next week, and its intact. Thats all that matters right now.