Tennessee football: Vols top 10 greatest games in 2010s decade

5. Oct. 19, 2013

No. 11 South Carolina Gamecocks at Tennessee Volunteers

What appeared to be the first signature victory for what Butch Jones sold on Rocky Top happened in 2013. Quite frankly, it’s a forgettable win now, but it was a huge one at the time, so we have to put it on here.

Tennessee football entered this game at 3-3. They had not beaten a top 25 team since the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2009, and they had suffered four straight losing seasons and three straight without a bowl.

But the game before this one, the Vols fought hard with the Georgia Bulldogs, only to lose in overtime. That showed a program on the rise under Jones. And now, they were set to face the best S.C. team Steve Spurrier ever led.

With Justin Worley starting, it was a defensive struggle from the start. The Vols went up 3-0 in the first, and the two teams initially traded touchdowns in the second. Then the Vols scored late to go up 17-7 at halftime, and it looked like they just might pull out the win.

South Carolina fought back to score two more touchdowns in the third to go up 21-17, while the Vols missed a field goal. But Michael Palardy redeemed himself. He hit a 33-yard field goal in the fourth to make it 21-20.

Then the Vols got the ball back late. And on 3rd and 10 from their own 35, Worley hit Marquez North, two names you forget about on Rocky Top, who made a one-handed grab for a 39-yard gain. Marlin Lane then carried them down to the two-yard line, and with two seconds left, Palardy kicked a game-winning field goal.

UT would go on to lose four straight and miss another bowl after Worley suffered a season-ending injury. But the win in the moment was amazing for Tennessee football, and South Carolina finishing the year 11-2 and in the top five only made it look better.