PITTSBURGH — The all-too-familiar feeling of disaster hung in the air surrounding Acrisure Stadium as the second half of Saturday's showdown of nationally ranked teams wore on. With each freshly blown chance of putting away a wounded and reeling Pittsburgh, the mood of impending collapse gained life, the after-effects brought on by so many previous failures from the University of Tennessee football team to close out a building-block win over a quality opponent.
But an odd thing happened on the way to another gut-wrenching defeat.
Perhaps the player who had breathed the most life into the frustration suddenly became responsible for putting out the flickering doubt.
Senior defensive back Trevon Flowers, whose on-field ups and downs highlighted those of the entire team Saturday, had opened the door for Pitt's unlikely comeback when he muffed a fourth-quarter punt that the Panthers turned into a tying touchdown as backup quarterback Nick Patti found Jared Wayne in the back of the end zone for a late fourth-down score.
But with the No. 24 Volunteers later clinging to a seven-point overtime lead and No. 17 Pitt facing third-and-goal at the Tennessee 8-yard line, Flowers bolted from the secondary into Patti's face, eventually smothering him for a 12-yard sack — the first of Flowers' career — that put Pitt in desperation mode on the final snap, which wound up falling incomplete.
And just that quickly, the section of yellow-seated stadium where so many fans in orange and white stood anxiously let out a collective sigh of survival thanks in large part to a defense that finished with four sacks, nine tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hurries as a unit. The Vols also limited Pitt to 4-of-18 on third-down conversions, although they did allow the Panthers 3-of-5 fourth-down conversion success.
"After that fumble, we told him to get that next-play mentality," Vols junior defensive tackle Omari Thomas said of Flowers. "Everybody makes mistakes. There's always ups and down in games, and things don't always go your way.
"That's what he did. He showed up and showed out and had a big play at the end that helped seal the game. When that happened, it was just Trevon being himself and pushing through."
Whether or not this was UT turning a needed corner in its rebuild was far from answered, but certainly it was a positive step for a program desperate for such signs.
The offense had looked confused in the opening minutes — a Hendon Hooker overthrow of a streaking Jalin Hyatt across the middle on the third snap was the most frustrating early miscue — and the defense had taken several heavy body blows from the more physical Panthers, who jumped out to a 10-0 lead and held a 119-6 yardage advantage after two series by both teams.
But when the Vols' normally high-octane offense needed an early pick-me-up, Flowers and the defense provided the spark with a nimble interception in the back of the end zone — his second in three games — to keep Pitt's lead at 10 points.
Tennessee's offense fed off the momentum swing of the interception for its first touchdown and spent much of the rest of the first half seemingly gaining control, outgaining the Panthers 260-162 the remainder of the half and outscoring them 24-7 into halftime.
But then came the third quarter, and the sense of creeping gloom that began to overtake halftime's hope.
UT's third-quarter series of self-inflicted wounds read like a roadmap for taking its supporters back down the path to frustration.
Penalties zapped any positive gains on the first two possessions — eight plays for 5 yards — followed by a blocked punt by Pitt, which took over at the UT 19. But a second missed field-goal attempt in the half by the Panthers kept the score where it had stood, and the Vols began to piece together a drive until Jaylen Wright was stripped of the ball just after converting on third-and-1 at his 44.
After the teams exchanged field goals, keeping UT up by seven, the defense again put the Vols in good position to begin salting away the win by limiting Pitt to 2 yards on three snaps.
But Flowers muffed the punt at his own 39 with 5:10 remaining, and 10 plays later, Patti hit Wayne for the fourth-down touchdown that sent the Big Orange faithful — from the stadium to their living room couch to Twitter — reeling.
"Nobody's going to play perfect, but to be able to reset after that play and do what he did to end the game, that says a lot about him," Vols coach Josh Heupel said of Flowers' final highlight on a night when he finished with seven tackles, a sack and the interception. "You could see it in his eyes that he was disappointed, but he was able to reset and it showed in the way that he finished the football game.
"He has grown so much. You can see that how he approaches every day. For us to come out here and ... not play perfect but keep competing, I'm proud of that. If we learn lessons from that and continue to improve, we've got a chance to keep getting better as a team."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.