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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Tennessee at Texas A&M lived up to its pregame billing.
It was the No. 8 Aggies and the No. 9 Vols. It was Tennessee’s first trip to Kyle Field.
It also was an odd week leading up to the biggest game on the docket in college football for Week 6. Tennessee’s star running back Jalen Hurd’s status was unclear and later determined Friday that he would not travel with the team to College Station.
Texas A&M had injury speculations, too. Something Kevin Sumlin does not talk about. One being defensive end Myles Garrett. Garrett wound up playing though.
On top of the injury speculations all week for both teams, Butch Jones and Sumlin both chimed in on the Florida/LSU game. Both were vocal in needing the game to be played to avoid any competitive advantages and having head-to-head tiebreakers be trumped by winning percentages.
Past that, game day came, and the same old story occurred for the Volunteers in another epic game in a season full of them. Tennessee once again dug themselves in a hole early, giving up 21 points in the first quarter.
The Vols trailed 28-7 with 10:40 left in the third quarter.
Turnovers were the key – and once again – the Vols put the ball on the ground like they have done so many times this season. Usually the balls came back to them. Saturday, it finally came back to haunt them.
The turnovers were too much for defensive coordinator Bob Shoop’s unit to handle. Shoop couldn’t bail the offensive struggles in the first half again this week as the Aggies prevailed in double-overtime, putting an end to Tennessee’s miraculous comebacks.
It’s beyond belief that 684 offensive yards was not enough for Tennessee to leave College Station with a victory.
But seven turnovers will do that.
The defense erased most of them and gave the Vols’ offense a chance.
No play symbolized the bend-don’t-break mentality more than one late in the game.
Malik Foreman ran down Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams and punched the ball loose just before Williams crossed the goal line. Foreman’s hustle prevented a touchdown and gave Tennessee another chance. The Vols drove down for a touchdown to force overtime.
In the end, Tennessee’s defense couldn’t keep Trevor Knight out of the end zone, and this time, the offense couldn’t pick up the slack. After Knight scored to put the Aggies ahead 45-38 in the second overtime, Josh Dobbs’ pass was picked off, ending the game.
This game will be a learning lesson for Team 120’s offense: not every game can you put the ball on the ground so many times and win in the SEC.
The Vols must work on protecting the ball down the stretch if they want to win the SEC East, especially with the SEC divisional tiebreakers now altered to winning percentage unless Florida and LSU somehow makeup their postponed game.
Dan Harralson covers Tennessee football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danharralson.
