KNOXVILLE - You don't need to have a magical season to have a magical moment. For proof, let us return to the third quarter of Saturday'a game between Tennessee and Southern Miss inside UT's Neyland Stadium.
It happened with 5:22 on the clock, just after Emmanuel Moseley's interception had set up the Volunteers offense at the USM 20, UT leading by a shaky 10-3 and true freshman quarterback Will McBride only too happy to have tossed aside his potential redshirt season. He had to sub for starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who'd been injured in the opening half.
No one saw a scenario involving McBride unfolding before this game. In fact, the Big Orange Nation seemed only moderately interested in Tennessee snapping its four-game losing streak streak on its homecoming weekend.
Instead, the hours and days leading up to this one, the focus seemed to center far more on how many Volniacs who normally bleed pale orange would show up for this one. With the cold-hearted social media scheme to #EmptyNeyland looming as some sort of pathetic protest to athletic director John Currie's decision - or lack thereof - to rid the program of fifth-year coach Butch Jones, there was talk that no more than 60,000 would show up.
But the school announced a crowd of 95,551, and for a few minutes following Moseley's interception, it actually sounded as if there might be close to that many in attendance, and not one of them was booing Jones or his team.
Especially not when UT running back John Kelly - back from his one-game suspension for marijuana possession - went spinning and sprinting into the end zone from 20 yards out to move the lead to 17-3 on the way to a 24-10 win.
"Rocky Top" briefly had filled the air after Moseley's interception, but now it was everywhere, as if that winless October never had happened, or had at least been exorcised by that run.
And in that moment, all seemed briefly normal again in the historic stadium, its storied checkerboard end zones once more welcoming to the home team. Beyond that, its fans, or at least most of its fans, were momentarily caught up in a Big Orange victory rather than the Big Orange soap opera surrounding Jones and Currie and when to pull the plug on a coach who never has seemed to to connect with the fans.
Certainly, the Jones saga isn't over, even if the Jones era seems certain to end at some point between now and that 48-hour window that will follow the Nov. 25 game inside Neyland against Vanderbilt.
Now 4-5 for the season, UT needs two wins in its remaining three games at Missouri this coming Saturday, at home against LSU on Nov. 18 and that Vandy game just to reach a bowl for a fourth straight season.
But Mizzou notched a 45-16 victory over Florida on Saturday.
No one can live in limbo forever, though, completely devoid of joy or certainty or reward, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. If nothing else, Jones and this team have been in that dark place for weeks, wondering if the program would soon search for a new coach, starting over for the fourth time since November of 2008.
Not that everything was positive Saturday. The Vols now have gone 22 quarters without a touchdown pass, though McBride's first attempt of the night to Josh Palmer almost found the end zone, which might have ignited a quarterback controversy, however awful that might be for Guarantano, McBride, Jones or all three.
Alas, it just missed, along with several other tosses by McBride, who finished with one completion in eight attempts to 13 yards. Before he was injured, Guarantano was a promising 9-of-13 for 102 yards.
Yet Kelly back to being Kelly - 20 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns - the Vols won a game for the first time since a 17-13 victory over UMass on Sept. 23.
"All these things these kids have been battling through," Jones said in beginning his postgame remarks. "But I see the culture that's kicked in. I see the grind. We have another challenge facing one of the hottest teams in college football (Mizzou) on the road. But it's a lot easier to prepare coming off a victory."
It surely is. Especially when it's been 42 days between those victories.
Said Jones, a smile of relief and redemption frozen on his face: "It was so exciting to see (the players) sing the (UT) fight song."
Especially on homecoming weekend.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com