Tennessee football’s 10 luckiest wins of all time
42. 839. Final/OT. 41. 880
10. 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff: Two-point stop secures Vols overtime win
It was the one bright spot before Tennessee football’s 2017 season collapsed. The Vols were set to begin a new era under Butch Jones after losing Joshua Dobbs, Derek Barnett, Alvin Kamara, and a slew of other talented players to the pros. In this game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, new heroes were made in Quinten Dormady, Marquez Callaway, John Kelly, and Rashaan Gaulden.
Of course most of them were seeming heroes by the time the season came to an end. But this was the opener against a Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team that built its brand on running the triple-option. Using that, UT could not buy a stop as GT milked the clock, and they had a 28-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
However, later up 28-21 and only needing to run out the clock, J.J. Green ran the ball deep into Vol territory, effectively guaranteeing them a chance at a two-score lead, and then fumbled when he was hit by Gaulden. That was the first bit of luck. Dormady to Callaway and runs by Kelly resulted in a 93-yard game-tying drive to follow.
The second bit of luck came when Shawn Davis missed his second field goal of the night, a 36-yard chip shot with a chance to win. So it went to overtime. After the two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, UT scored again in the second and got its final bit of luck.
GT scored one more touchdown, and Paul Johnson stupidly decided to go for the win despite his team being unstoppable. On his two-point conversion, Darrell Taylor sold out to the right side and made the stop. So despite allowing 655 yards of total offense and only gaining 369 themselves, the Vols secured a 42-41 win.