COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Tennessee has become must-see college football television the first half of this season.
The Volunteers won't want to relive the latest chapter of their incredibly wild and, at times, inexplicable 2016 season.
Tennessee rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit and scored twice in the final three minutes to force overtime, but Texas A&M finally ended the Vols' magic as an Armani Watts interception sealed a 45-38 double-overtime win for the Aggies in a showdown of top-10 teams at Kyle Field on Saturday afternoon.
"We don't give up and we have faith in each other," safety Todd Kelly Jr. said after No. 9 Tennessee's 11-game winning streak ended in heartbreaking fashion. "Regardless of how the first, second, third or fourth quarter goes, we're going to give our all no matter what. We don't look up at the scoreboard.
"Whether we're up by 40 or down by 40, we play the same way (with) strain and playing one for another, 11 for 11."
The most disappointing aspect of this defeat is how the Vols often self-destructed.
Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) turned the ball over seven times. All five fumbles were costly. No. 8 Texas A&M (6-0, 5-0) scored 21 points off three of them, and two others came when the Vols had driven deep into scoring range.
Josh Dobbs was hit on a throw and later dropped the ball after faking a handoff. Alvin Kamara was stripped by Watts at the end of a 55-yard catch-and-run. John Kelly had it punched out of his hand by defensive lineman Hardreck Walker. Evan Berry took a shot to the helmet on a kickoff and fumbled.
"The turnovers, we really were killing ourselves," Kamara said. "We know how to play football, at the end of the day. We stayed in the game until the very end. Nobody got down. Nobody got ahead of themselves. We just stayed in the moment and were able to come back and bring it to OT. We just came up a little bit short."
Tennessee fumbled 15 times in its first five games and lost only three of them, but Saturday the ball bounced the other way.
Jones said he was "dumbfounded" by the continuing ball-security problems and referenced the first of the program's maxims - "The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win" - created long ago by coach Gen. Robert Neyland.
"I would say more disappointment than frustration, because you can't be frustrated," Jones said. "Then all of a sudden you start pressing and emotions come into the game. Absolutely disappointed because we talk about Maxim 1 all the time. We knew this was going to be a Maxim 1 football game. They're a very explosive football team, and we knew that.
"I'm proud of the resolve, but the turnovers didn't give us an opportunity."
Already this season Tennessee rallied to win in overtime, overcame double-digit deficits with 45-3 and 38-0 scoring sprees and won at Georgia on a Hail Mary at the horn, but those paled in comparison to Saturday's thriller.
The final five minutes and overtime alone had enough drama for half a season.
Quarterback Trevor Knight restored Texas A&M's two-touchdown lead with a 62-yard run, but the Vols needed only 1:15 to reply. The Aggies' Trayveon Williams broke free for a run of 60-plus yards, but his icing touchdown turned into a touchback when Malik Foreman punched the ball out with Williams mere yards from the end zone. Of course Tennessee went down and tied it.
In the final 40 seconds the Aggies drove into field-goal range, but Daniel LaCamera shanked the kick.
"This football team has great resolve and resiliency," Jones said, "and they just believe they're going to find a way to win."
Said Dobbs: "We're just a strong-minded team."
Tennessee somehow overcame the turnovers and multiple injuries. Many of the injured returned, but a team already without four key players lost two starters on the offensive line and another starting linebacker. Defensive tackle Danny O'Brien was carted off on a backboard, but he flew back to Knoxville with the team Saturday night.
"It hurts," linebacker Colton Jumper said. "You never want to see your teammates go down and get hurt. If you're the next up, you can't sit there and wallow. You've got to get your mind right, and you've got to get ready to play."
One constant in this crazy Tennessee season is the Vols' relentlessness, but it didn't result in another incredible win.
"We never have any self-doubt," Kelly said, "that we're (not) going to win the ballgame, no matter how much time is on the clock or how much we're down by."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.