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Tennessee football: 10 Vols games vs. South Carolina that dramatically altered history

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Kevin Cooper #45 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Kevin Cooper #45 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images /

7. 2007 – Tennessee: 27 South Carolina: 24

This was one of a few games in the series that actually decided who won the SEC East. The winner of the match-up alone didn’t decide it, but it assured that the winner won it. That winner was Tennessee football, and it’s the last time they went to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championship.

Coming into the game, the Vols were 4-3 overall but just 2-2 in the SEC. However, the Florida Gators had lost to the Georgia Bulldogs earlier in the day for their third SEC loss, and Tennessee and South Carolina had both beaten the Dawgs.

So the winner of this match-up would take first place in the East. The thrill of the game matched the hype surrounding it. Tennessee jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half, but thanks to a very bad game by Erik Ainge, South Carolina fought back. They tied it up at 21 and took the lead with a late field goal to go up 24-21.

It looked like the Vols would blow another opportunity. But just days before he was about to get dismissed from the team, LaMarcus Coker had an amazing kick return to put the Vols in good field position. Ainge and Arian Foster did the work the rest of the way, although Foster almost cost UT with another crucial fumble that Eric Young had to recover.

Nonetheless, Tennessee football tied it up with a clutch field goal from Daniel Lincoln in regulation. Lincoln then gave the Vols the lead in overtime with another field goal. And in a sense of deja vu for Steve Spurrier that had to remind him of 1998, his kicker missed a game-tying field goal to give the Vols the victory.

Tennessee won out to finish 9-3 and 6-2 in the East. But there’s more significance here. The Vols winning that game is also what kept out Georgia. Had they lost, the Dawgs would have gone since South Carolina lost more games down the stretch anyway.

And at 10-2, they might have beaten the LSU Tigers to end up in the national championship game. That would have meant that Mark Richt would have a title, and Les Miles never would have had one in Baton Rouge. So this game alone had a huge impact on history.

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