Tennessee football: Five openers Vols nearly lost to non-Power Five teams

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Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images /

1. 2016

Appalachian State Mountaineers at No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers

Final score: Tennessee wins 20-13 (OT)

After their ugly win over the UAB Blazers in 2005, it would take 11 years for Tennessee football to get back into the preseason top 10 rankings. And they did it entering Butch Jones’s fourth year in 2016 behind a senior quarterback in Joshua Dobbs and weapons all over the field.

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The Vols would get things going with a Thursday night home opener against the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Ironically, the Vols were the favorites to win the East this year, and the last time they had done that was 2007, the same year Appalachian State upset the Michigan Wolverines as an FCS school and got on the national map.

UT should have seen the warning signs then. But they instead got off to a hideous start. The Vols shut down the Mountaineers on their first drive, but Cameron Sutton fumbled the punt. That set up an App State touchdown to give them a 7-0 lead. UT responded by driving down to the goal line but had to settle for a field goal after two dropped passes.

Then, in the second quarter, Appalachian State had its only legitimate offensive drive, scoring a touchdown off a busted coverage to go up 13-3. But they missed the extra point. Still, UT’s offense couldn’t do anything, and late in the half, trying to cut the game to one score, Dobbs threw an interception.

In the second half, a Sutton interception set up a UT field goal, then Dobbs hit Josh Malone for a bomb to finally tie it up. But the offense couldn’t do much else, and thanks to Appalachian State not having a kicker, the game went to overtime.

Things got uglier in overtime. Dobbs dove for a touchdown on third down and fumbled it into the end zone, only for Jalen Hurd to recover and get the score. The Vols got the stop on the next possession to hold on 20-13, but it was a hideous overtime win.

Appalachian State would go on to win the Sun Belt with a 10-3 record. Meanwhile, Tennessee football would get off to a 5-0 start using strong second halves and crazy plays, similar to that game, to stay in the top 10. But the luck then ran out, and they lost three straight en route to finishing 8-4 in a disappointing season.

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The second half of the year was the beginning of the end for Jones. And while the App State scare seemed like a fluke early on, it became clear it was indicative of a larger problem. Jones was fired a year later. Now, entering this opener, Tennessee football is trying to start a season out of the shadow of those late failures. But they must remember games like these.

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