Tennessee's Jason Croom, right, celebrates with Pig Howard. Howard played a big role in setting up Croom's game-tying touchdown reception.COLUMBIA, S.C. - The quarterback set a program record for rushing yards and accounted for more yards his team had in any game so far this season.
The freshman tailback made what might have been the game's highlight play and had a 100-yard game of his own.
Despite the heroics of Josh Dobbs and Jalen Hurd in Tennessee's wild rally to an overtime win at South Carolina on Saturday night, the Volunteers might not have pulled it off if not for receiver Pig Howard.
The receiver caught five passes for 109 yards and grabbed receptions of 31 and 18 yards on Tennessee's 85-yard drive to tie the game and force overtime.
"It was a great feeling," Howard said after the first 100-yard receiving game of his career. "I give all the credit to the coaches. They drew the X's and the O's, and I was fortunate enough to go out there and run my routes and get open.
"But I think all around, from coaching, to defense -- we carried that momentum and had smart plays all around."
The diminutive junior added 29 rushing yards on four carries.
Howard scored Tennessee's first touchdown of the game on a reverse at the 1-yard line in the first quarter, when he had to outrun South Carolina defensive end Gerald Dixon, and took a jet sweep for 18 yards early in the fourth quarter on a drive that ended in a Dobbs interception.
The Vols had zero catches from Marquez North, whom Tennessee coach Butch Jones said after the game was battling a shoulder injury, and Josh Malone, the freshman who caught his first career touchdown pass against Alabama last week.
That meant Howard, the Vols' second-leading receiver behind North entering the game, had to step up.
"He was big," Jones said. "We had some receivers down, and Alton stepped up. We've asked a lot of him from moving him around, playing all three different wide receiver positions, and he made some big catches for us. Also not just big catches, but he was able to catch and advance the football and get it north and south."
Of course, Howard's role in Tennessee's 645-yard offensive output, which moved the Vols up to 98th nationally in total offense, was overshadowed by the nights and numbers the Vols got from Dobbs and Hurd.
In his first start, Dobbs threw for 301 yards and set a Tennessee quarterback rushing record with 166 yards. He also orchestrated drives of 75 and 85 yards in the game's final five minutes to lead the Vols back into the game.
"One thing they say, big-time players make big-time plays in big games," Howard said of the sophomore. "That's something he did tonight. He showed a lot of maturity, took hits, made mistakes, came back poised, stayed positive and continued to make plays."
Hurd turned 28 touches into 183 yards, posted the second 100-yard rushing game of his career and scored a fourth-down touchdown in the fourth quarter that was the result of an excellent individual effort on his part.
"I've been saying it all along: Jalen is a very selfless player. Very unselfish," Jones said. "His skill set, we see that every day in practice, but his skill set hasn't been able to be shown in live game opportunities. That was a great run, and his skill set was shown tonight."
Tennessee's previous season high in total offense was a 415-yard performance against Arkansas State in September, and the Vols ran for 344 yards against a porous South Carolina defense after entering the game with just 839 yards in the season's first eight games. Dobbs and his running ability have opened things up for the Vols.
"He's bringing something that a lot of people have not seen out of this program," Hurd said. "A running quarterback like that, people are kind of hesitant to go at me as much, because they have to look at him. He's bringing everything to the table being as mobile as he is."
Tennessee's new quarterback got an assist from the elder statesman of a receiving corps that's picked up its game the past two weeks after some struggles.
"Pig did a great job of finding the holes in the defense and sitting down," Dobbs said. "We had good play calls just to get him open. When we got the ball in his hands, he was able to get some big yardage for us."
Said Howard: "Our team is very close. Our chemistry is stronger than ever. Our practice habits, and the way we approach this game and any other game is with confidence. We took it one play at a time, and we did whatever it takes to get this win."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.