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* Wiedmer: Vols and their coach both grew up against Dawgs * Tennessee rallies to stun Georgia, 38-31 * Tennessee holds off 19th-ranked Georgia, 38-31 * Michel, Davis take blame for defeat * Chubb injury disheartening for Bulldogs * Tennessee racks up record yardage on Pruitt's defense * Dobbs leads Vols in 'very, very gritty' performance * Daniel's late punt helps protect Vols' big win
KNOXVILLE - Punters don't often get called to postgame news conferences. Punters normally quietly do their jobs, dress in privacy and fade into the night unencumbered by attention or celebrity.
But redshirt sophomore punter Trevor Daniel's contributions to Tennessee's 38-31 victory over Georgia on Saturday were anything but quiet or unimportant. Especially his last punt, which was struck with less than two minutes to go in the game, the Volunteers on their own 43 and facing a fourth-and-1.
Vols coach Butch Jones briefly flirted with going for it on that down, knowing well that a conversion would all but guarantee a Big Orange win against the No. 19 Bulldogs. But if Georgia held, another outcome might easily take hold. Given a short field, the Bulldogs could score and force overtime, and the Vols already had experienced the pain of bonus football in their two-overtime home loss to Oklahoma on Sept. 12.
"I had no idea what he was going to do," Daniel said later. "I was trying to prepare for anything."
In the end, Jones called time out, then sent the Dickson County High School graduate onto the field to back up the Dogs as deep as possible.
"They came pretty hard (for the block)," he said. "I had to get it out of there fast. I honestly thought I'd hit it too hard."
Too hard would send the ball into the end zone and allow the Bulldogs to start at their own 20, 80 yards from the end zone they'd have to reach in 1:48 to force overtime.
Instead, as Daniel's punt appeared to be headed for that end zone, it took a crazy hop to the left at the 1-yard line, rolling out of bounds less than two feet from the goal line, 56 yards from the line of scrimmage. If the Bulldogs were going to win this game, they would have to travel more than 99 yards to do it.
"I was just hoping to set up the defense in as good a position as possible," said the punter, who used his powerful build - 6-foot-1, 248 pounds - to average 45 yards on seven punts against Georgia. "I'm a directional punter. My goal every game is to aim for the numbers. I got a little lucky on that one."
UT offensive lineman Coleman Thomas said he was lucky he didn't draw a penalty flag for running onto the field to celebrate Daniel's punt.
"If someone hadn't grabbed me, I would have been out there," Thomas said. "Trevor had been hitting those in practice all week, but to do it with the game on the line was amazing."
Not that Daniel has been much short of amazing all year. He entered Saturday second in the SEC in punting average at 48.3 yards. His long punt has been 61 yards. He's hit 13 over 50 yards. Saturday he put three inside the 20, including the last one.
But was it his best one ever?
"Yes," he said."Obviously."
Added Vols defensive lineman Derek Barnett with a wide smile: "The football gods were with us on that one."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com