Tennessee football: 10 heartbreaking game-winning TD drives Vols allowed
3. Oct. 2, 2010
Tennessee Volunteers at No. 12 LSU Tigers
Final score: LSU wins 16-14
Between the 2001 SEC Championship game, the 2006 Jamarcus Russell drive, and this game, the LSU Tigers have a history of delivering the Vols seriously heartbreaking losses despite them not playing every year. Well, UT has delivered some too, most notably The Stop of Billy Cannon on the goal line in 1959 and the 21-0 comeback in 2005.
In this game, Tennessee football would be looking for another “stop.” But in a vacuum, it became the most heartbreaking drive ever for the Vols. Derek Dooley had taken over as head coach, and the program was a wreck. He had a half-full roster ready for SEC play due to so much attrition, and it showed with a 2-2 start that included an overtime victory over the UAB Blazers a week earlier.
LSU, meanwhile, was 4-0 with two top 25 wins. So they were heavy favorites. However, Dooley and his staff called a tremendous game. Despite a Jordan Jefferson 83-yard touchdown run on the first play that made it seem like it would be a blowout, the Vols defense stiffened. Meanwhile, the offense under Matt Simms did just enough with two touchdowns.
Thanks to four LSU turnovers and nine penalties, it looked like the Vols might win. But the Tigers were marching for one final drive down 14-10. This drive would be heartbreaking enough, as it started on their own 31 with five and a half minutes to go and included a 4th and 14 conversion along with two other 3rd down conversions, including a 3rd and 13.
However, that became a secondary headline. The story came at the end. Jarrett Lee had gotten the Tigers to the Tennessee two-yard line and made it 2nd and goal with 23 seconds to go. Les Miles called a timeout and inexplicably put Jefferson back in. He called a running play expecting Jefferson to score.
Tennessee football then got an epic stop. Miles, known for clock mismanagement, did not have a second play planned and ran the clock down trying to substitute. In the process, the Vols got confused and tried to match LSU’s substitutions. Amidst all the confusion, Jefferson wasn’t ready for the final snap, and it went over his head, seemingly securing a UT victory.
Replay, though, showed that UT had too many men on the field amidst the confusion. So with no time on the clock, Miles’s incompetence was bailed out. He got one final chance, and Stevan Ridley punched it in from the one to give them a 16-14 victory.
You couldn’t script a more heartbreaking drive, and it’s hard to know how Dooley’s career would have ended up if he had pulled out that game. But by itself, that game was heartbreaking, and it solidified Miles as the luckiest coach in America.