Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley (14) throws against Oklahoma in their game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014.NORMAN, Okla. — Often overwhelmed and outmatched nearly all night, Tennessee left Oklahoma in the overnight hours of Sunday morning with some semblance of pride and encouragement.
It wasn’t pretty most of the night, but the Volunteers will feel they weren’t far away from being within a possession of the fourth-ranked team in the country.
Still, Tennessee will know it still has a long way to go to join the nation’s elite.
Oklahoma turned three long drives into touchdowns and let its talented, disruptive defense do the rest as the No. 4 Sooners beat the Vols 34-10 on Saturday night in front of 85,622, the sixth-largest crowd in the history of Owen Field at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
The Vols looked like a team that had nearly a third of its travel roster comprised of players who joined the program earlier this year, but the youth didn’t keep them from trying to fight back from a 20-point second-half deficit.