KNOXVILLE - At its conclusion, it was nothing more than a lot of noise signifying nothing. But, oh, what magical noise.
With 11:02 to go in Tennessee's 27-24 victory over South Carolina on Saturday, UT quarterback Josh Dobbs stood at midfield, right arm cocked, Josh Malone streaking for the end zone in a tie game. With the kind of velocity and accuracy that might make even Peyton Manning jealous, Dobbs let loose, sending a perfectly spinning oblong bullet through the damp air.
The ball briefly nestling in Malone's hands as he reached the middle of the end zone, Neyland instantly unleashed a seismic roar certain to challenge the decibel record set earlier this year against Oklahoma.
Only Malone made a mess of the moment. He never controlled the ball. Incompletion. Eventual field goal. Another "What if?" memory for Team 119 in its "What If Season."
But unlike a similar play that did in Georgia near the close of its loss to the Volunteers inside Neyland in early October, a perfect pass from Bulldogs quarterback Greyson Lambert that Reggie Davis couldn't hold onto, the Vols won anyway.
And that win, though far from the level of perfection displayed by the Big Orange in last week's road rout of Kentucky - hey, you can't play the Mildcats every week - may actually have been more impressive for its determination and perseverance.
For just like earlier heartbreaks against Oklahoma, Florida and Arkansas - games lost after Tennessee took double-figure leads - the Vols roared in front 17-0 in this one late in the second quarter before the Gamecocks rallied to tie not once, but twice, the last time at 24-all inside the final minute of the third quarter.
But this time, the Vols laughed last. The oft-maligned Aaron Medley drilled a 27-yard field goal with 9:14 to return the lead to the home team as 101,253 Volniacs roared their approval, and then the Big Orange defense came up big when it mattered most, poking loose a Gamecocks fumble on the UT 13 with 32 seconds to go.
"It's something we work on every day," linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, arguably the hardest working Vol, said of teammate Malik Foreman's forced fumble that JRM recovered. "It is something that is embedded in us."
It is something that was not always so. The will to win may not be difficult to define, but it can be next to impossible to learn. Had the Vols had it earlier this season, they might be on their way to the SEC championship game as Eastern Division champs.
That they aren't isn't all bad, however. A year from now such a will should be secondary in nature. Leads may not disappear, the will to win often leading to the kind of killer instinct so often displayed by Alabama, Ohio State, Southern Cal and others who've won multiple national crowns over the past 30 years.
To merely to return to Dobbs' dynamic dropped pass is to be reminded that two plays later, on third-and-10 from the Gamecocks' 42, the QB made a similarly perfect throw to Von Pearson for a 30-yard gain that set up Medley's game-winning field goal.
"On third downs, (Dobbs) is the playmaker," running back Alvin Kamara said. "I say every week that he is our CEO. He knows when he needs to make a big play."
Actually, judging by Saturday night, this whole team is learning what's needed to make a big play when it matters most, when the collective performance isn't at its peak.
"It was a testament to where we are now from where we were before," said senior offensive tackle Kyler Kerbyson. "In past years, we had to play literally our best game to have a chance. Now we can have mistakes on offense or defense and the other side will bail us out. We don't have to play exactly the best game, and we can still come away with a win. That just shows how much our team has grown."
And thanks to the prettiest incomplete pass in Big Orange history, this win also shows how much potential growth for true greatness this time next year yet remains.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com