KNOXVILLE — “I don’t know what else you can do defensively.”
The words belonged to Tennessee coach Derek Dooley following the Volunteers’ 14-3 loss to South Carolina on Saturday night. Scanning a stat sheet that showed another woeful offensive performance — 58 total yards in the final half — he knew his defense had given him about everything it could.
Not that it was enough. And even after his initial praise of his defenders, he lowered his compliment by turning his attention to the Gamecocks’ defining drive of the second half, a 99-yard thing of beauty that drained nearly 12 minutes off the clock, took 20 plays and put the visitors up by the final score after South Carolina led 7-3 at halftime.
“We didn’t stop the run very well in the second half, that’s for sure,” Dooley said. “They went on a 99-yard drive, but for the most part [our defense did well]. We couldn’t get anything done on offense. We fought hard, though.”
The defenders agreed.