What makes Tennessee's heartbreaking 27-24 loss to South Carolina hit a little extra the day after is knowing that the Vols had no business falling to 6-2. Make maybe 1-2 extra plays, and Tennessee would be 7-1. One in particular that's going to keep Tennessee fans pretty irritated was the 4th-and-1 sequence late in the fourth quarter.
It was a busted play, with George MacIntyre ending up holding onto the ball, looking lost in the backfield. South Carolina pass-rushers swarmed to bring him to the ground. As it turns out, coming out of the timeout, MacIntyre forgot that he was supposed to hand the ball off to the fullback, who would have gotten the first down.
Sorry, but that's inexcusable from the second-year signal-caller. Josh Heupel confirmed this was on his quarterback not long after the loss was recorded.
Tennessee HC Josh Heupel on the 4th down play:
— Riley Haltom (@rileyhaltom) October 24, 2026
"Missteps by George [MacIntyre] on that one.
George MacIntyre called himself out over the 4th-down mistake in the Tennessee loss
The ball was supposed to go to DaSaahn Brame, who posted a one-yard touchdown earlier in the contest. It was essentially the same play design, only this time MacIntyre didn't put the ball in his hands like he was supposed to. Just deflating stuff.
After South Carolina got the ball back, LaNorris Sellers took his team right down the field to tie things up at 24-24. Then with a little over a minute to go, the Vols got the ball back ready to still come out on top. Instead, a MacIntyre fumble helped put the South Carolina win on a platter for the Gamecocks. While that turnover obviously hurt, the turnover on downs is what really got things moving south.
"Yeah, just simple miscommunication, a formation we've been running all game," MacIntyre said via GoVols247 on what happened on that 4th down. "Just got to be more locked into the details of the different plays and that big jumbo formation."
While watching the postgame interviews, you could tell just how dejected MacIntyre felt. Few people can argue that he played his best game of the season, but it was the little things that came back to ruin Week 8 for the Vols. Let's make one thing perfectly clear, though. This was not all on MacIntyre.
The 12 penalties for 90 yards had Heupel pretty dang ticked off after the final whistle. When penalties lead to three touchdowns coming off the board, including multiple perfect throws from your young quarterback in a hostile road environment, it's always going to be a recipe for disaster. South Carolina was the more disciplined football team, which led to it taking down the No. 11 team in the country.
All Heupel can do is give credit to Shane Beamer for having his guys more prepared to play, but at the same time, the lack of focus from Vols players is on the Tennessee head coach, too. People need to take ownership over these costly errors, and they've got to do so immediately. With Tennessee now getting ready for a BYE week, there's going to be a ton of self reflection going on in Knoxville before ranked Kentucky comes to town. MacIntyre will have to be at his best for the Vols to upset the Wildcats, but he's not the only one.
Add us as a preferred source on Google