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Tennessee football: Vols lose 27-24 heartbreaker at South Carolina

By Caleb Calhoun

COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 27: Todd Kelly Jr. #24 of the Tennessee Volunteers tackles Deebo Samuel #1 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 27: Todd Kelly Jr. #24 of the Tennessee Volunteers tackles Deebo Samuel #1 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football lost its third straight to the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Volunteers suffered a 27-24 heartbreaker on the road.

Tennessee football failed to convert on back to back fourth downs and Rico Dowdle converted on a 30-yard run to secure a 27-24 victory for the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Vols never trailed until the fourth quarter, but the defense could not get a stop.

With the loss, Jeremy Pruitt’s first team on Rocky Top falls to 3-5 on the year and 1-4 in the SEC. Meanwhile, Will Muschamp, coming off his bye, saw his team improve to 4-3 and 3-3 in the SEC while he personally improved to 7-0 against the Vols.

Shy Tuttle got the early spark fr UT with an interception on South Carolina’s second offensive drive after Daniel Bituli tipped a pass from Jake Bentley. Tennessee football cashed in on that with a touchdown pass fro Jarrett Guarantano to Eli Wolf to go up 7-0. Guarantano finished the game 27-of-39 for 207 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. His top receiver was Marquez Callaway, who had 86 yards.

The Gamecocks drove into the red zone on the second drive but had to settle for a field goal. Later, the Vols were able to drive down the field again behind Guarantano thanks to lots of third down conversions, capped off by a touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings, who had three receptions for 26 yards. However, South Carolina responded with a touchdown drive of its own, capped off by a one-handed grab from Deebo Samuel, as the half wound down to make it 14-9 after their extra point was blocked. Samuel finished with just three receptions for eight yards and a touchdown.

A ton of scoring came to in the third quarter. The Vols screened their way down the field before a misdirection handoff to Carlin Fils-Aime, who was playing linebacker four days before, resulted in a touchdown to give themselves a 21-9 lead. South Carolina responded, though, with a quick touchdown drive to cut the lead to 21-16.

Then Tennessee drove back into South Carolina territory and scored off of a 45-yard field goal from Brent Cimaglia to take a 24-16 lead. But the Gamecocks immediately responded with a touchdown run and a two-point conversion three plays after a 73-yard pass from Jake Bentley to Bryan Edwards. Edwards led the Gamecocks in receiving with three receptions for 96 yards, while Bentley went 11-of-16 for 152 yards. The touchdown run came after the refs missed a clear fumble by Rico Dowdle, but at the end of the day, the teams took a 24-24 tie into the fourth.

In the fourth quarter, the Vols were stalled on two fourth down plays near midfield. In between them, the Gamecocks drove into field goal range to take a 27-24 lead. After they were stopped the second time, Dowdle had his run to secure the game. He finished with 14 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown.

Up next for Tennessee football is a home game against the Charlotte 49ers. Then the Vols begin their stretch run with two more home games against the Kentucky Wildcats and Missouri Tigers before closing out the year on the road against the Vanderbilt Commodores. They somehow need to win three of the next four to be bowl eligible, but only one is a sure win.

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