LEXINGTON, Ky. — With two frustrating road losses already on the season’s resumé, and considering what’s looming on November’s horizon over two of the next three weeks, surviving Saturday night’s back-and-forth scare at Kroger Field may prove to be a turning point for this University of Tennessee football team.
It certainly salvaged the potential to make it another step in the right direction under third-year head coach Josh Heupel. If the Volunteers can simply take care of business against UConn and Vanderbilt at home, then at least come away with a split in their road matchup at surging Missouri and in what promises to be a rowdy Neyland Stadium crowd against Georgia, then the table is set for a premier bowl and the chance at a 10-win season.
To follow last year’s magical run to 11-2 with another season of double-digit wins —particularly after having to replace a generational quarterback talent (Hendon Hooker), plus overcome season-ending injuries to their best receiver (Bru McCoy) and best cover cornerback (Kamal Hadden) and play the first four games without their most important offensive lineman (Cooper Mays) — would prove Tennessee is built to compete at an elite level over the long term.
But none of that would be possible if not for the Vols’ final drive of the night, which did not end in points but did end Kentucky’s hopes.
In one of the most impressive drives of the season, UT played keepaway to perfection by bleeding the final 4:24 off the clock. Knowing the Wildcats had shredded the Tennessee secondary all game and capped two of their previous three possessions with points — the third ended with a 53-yard field-goal attempt being missed — to pull within six, a Vols offense that had generated seven plays of 15-plus yards and averaged nearly 6 yards per snap needed to be more methodical than dynamic.
The result was a crisp nine plays (eight of which were rushes) for 51-yard drive that was not hampered by any penalties, got energized by Dylan Sampon’s 24-yard burst, and was later kept alive by one of only two third-down conversions in the second half when Joe Milton III kept the ball around left end for an 11-yard gain on third-and-7 with two minutes remaining.
The possession forced Kentucky to use up all three of its timeouts, then expired the clock without the Vols having to even attempt to tack on any more points for a 33-27 victory.
“We had to finish,” said Sampson, who finished with 115 total yards, including 76 on the ground on a team-high 18 carries. “This is what we prepare for at practice. Just go out there and execute at a high level.
“I feel like this is a big step in getting where we need to go. We’ve got a lot of things still to accomplish, but this was a big win for us. Especially coming off of a loss like last week, you can dwell on games that’s not this game, and I feel like we took that intentionally. All we can do is control what’s in the present, and that’s what we have to do each step of the way.”
The win was not only Tennessee’s 36th in its last 39 meetings with the Wildcats, it also snapped a series of four consecutive losses in what would be considered true road Southeastern Conference games (the win at Vanderbilt last year came in front of a mostly orange-clad stadium). It also made the Vols 7-1 in games immediately after a loss under Heupel.
“There’s a lot of things that we have to continue to improve upon, and that includes me and our staff and everybody, but I’ll go compete with these guys anywhere,” said Heupel, who is 3-0 against Kentucky. “But it was huge for that group, and for this game, to go finish the game with the ball. It’s what you want to do offensively when you get in four-minute mode.
“We did a great job in the box, O-line, tight ends, running backs, quarterback were a part of that. Our running (game) made plays. They ran through people, made them miss and went forward. I want an even more heightened sense of urgency to get where we’re capable of as fast as we can, but I’m really proud of the way we got an opportunity to finish the game and did.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com.