Tennessee football lost another heartbreaker in SEC play on Saturday. The Vols hosted the Georgia Bulldogs in a top-15 matchup and lost 44-41 in overtime.
The Vols had control of the game at the start with a 21-7 lead throughout most of the first half and came back after trailing with a dominant final 16 minutes of the game.
Tennessee had a chance to win the game outright with a 43-yard field goal, but Max Gilbert pushed it right to send the game into overtime.
There wasn't much success on the Vols' overtime drive on offense, settling for a 42-yard field goal before Georgia quickly scored on its overtime drive to end the game.
Despite Tennessee losing, it looked like this would be the game the Vols would finally beat Kirby Smart's Bulldogs after eight straight losses. That didn't happen, although Smart acknowledged that Tennessee deserved to win the game in his postgame interview with ABC.
"I'm really proud of this team," Smart told ABC's Holly Rowe postgame. "Tennessee deserved to win this game. We didn't play our best game. I got a lot of respect for the way they played, but these kids I got, they never quit – they never quit. A lot of naysayers out there about Gunner. I thought he played his tail off today. We didn't play real well defensively; give Tennessee a lot of credit."
Tennessee did play well and looked like a clear-cut top ten team, but they didn't get the job done on the scoreboard, leaving fans, players, and coaches with another heartbreaking SEC loss.
The Vols will have a chance to bounce back next week, though, as UAB comes to town before Tennessee jumps into its SEC schedule for the rest of the season, with the exception of New Mexico State in November.