Tennessee football: Top 5 Vols individual performances vs. Florida
Quarterback. Joshua Dobbs. 4. Pick Analysis. 2016. player. 839. Scouting Report
Tennessee beats Florida 38-28
Joshua Dobbs was always a momentum player in Knoxville, but at no point was he that more so than his senior year performance against the Florida Gators. In the most recent game between these two schools, Dobbs delivered the performance of a lifetime.
And it came after a horrendous first half.
The Vols had been inventing ways to lose to Florida by the time this game arrived, as they were on an 11-game losing streak. That streak was in their head, and they made a series of first-half mistakes.
Dobbs had guys dropping balls, and then he missed a couple, including throwing a terrible interception. The result was a 21-3 Gator halftime lead.
Things didn’t get better for him to start the second half, as he threw another interception the opening drive, dragging his stat line to 7-for-21 with two picks. It would be the last bad play he made all day.
After the defense got a stop, Dobbs got himself into high gear. He sparked it with a third-down conversion to Jason Croom and then a touchdown pass to Jalen Hurd. Two drives later, he had a long pass to Josh Malone to set up a touchdown pass to Ethan Wolf.
The very next drive, he hit Jauan Jennings for the play of the year on a 67-yard touchdown pass.
And after an interception got him the ball back, he hit Josh Malone for a 42-yard touchdown pass.
The next drive, Dobbs was asked to keep it on the ground and eat up some clock. So he broke off a 22-yard run and then ended it with a five-yard touchdown run.
All of a sudden, Tennessee was up on Florida 38-21 and had scored on four straight drives. Dobbs was the catalyst for all of that.
In a quick-strike, unbelievable second-half, Dobbs’ amazing performance ended Tennessee football’s streak to Florida. he finished 16-of-32 for 319 yards and four touchdown passes while adding 80 yards rushing and another touchdown.
And with five total touchdowns, he led the Vols to total domination over Florida. It was a performance nobody will soon forget, and it deserves its place on this list.