Tennessee fans had a blast on Saturday. It was a night that will be treasured for decades. Well, except for that period of time in which Florida nearly came back and beat the Vols, who were up 17 points midway through the fourth quarter.
Florida’s comeback was just plain stressful. The Vols won, but the Gator’s nearly come-from-behind victory shouldn’t be forgotten. The Vols dodged a bullet against the Gators. That should make them better moving forward.
Tennessee center Cooper Mays will second that notion. Being tested, as the Vols have been in wins against Pittsburgh and Florida, could be a factor down the stretch when the Vols will almost assuredly have to stare down a potential defeat late in the game, as they did against Florida before eventually beating the Gators 38-33.
Mays has played the part of Goliath and it comes with more challenges than one might think. Goliaths can be untested in key situations. Let’s be clear, the Vols aren’t a Goliath, but they’ll be better than most of the teams they play. They’ll also find themselves up big against future opponents. Mays has been a part of a team like that before and it didn’t end well. We’ll get to that.
First, Tennessee has been tested as much as any team in the nation this season. The Vols were forced to overtime against Pittsburgh on the road. That was a test No. 1. The Vols passed with flying colors in an overtime win.
Tennessee was tested again against Florida with a comeback that nearly chomped the Vols in the backside. Despite the tenuous end of the game, which resulted in an interception on a Hail Mary attempt on the final play, the Vols arose victorious again with defeat staring them in the face.
Mays has been part of a team that was very Goliath-like and didn’t respond well. Let’s start with the Goliath aspect of this scenario.
Mays was just one of a handful of players on his high school football team at Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic High School that has had fantastic success after high school. That team produced two NFL players, Amari Rodgers, who plays for the Green Bay Packers and May’s brother, Cade Mays, who plays for the Charlotte Panthers.
That team also included Bryn Tucker, who plays for Clemson, and quarterback Chase Cunningham, who is currently the starter at MTSU, which just beat Miami to knock the Hurricanes out of the top 25. How’s that for another David and Goliath story?
Back to Catholic, that team was a Goliath. The Fighting Irish beat its first 10 opponents by a combined score of 524-140 in 2016. Then, Catholic lost in the playoffs to Fulton, 46-25, in a shocking upset. Mays referred to that team that wasn’t battle tested in the second half because they didn’t have to be. He sees value in what the Vols have had to face this season.
“It’s huge,” Mays said of playing in tight games. “What I think back to is when I was back in high school. My freshman year, we had the best team in the state. We were loaded talent wise…I didn’t play a second half of football that whole year until the last game of the season.
“That last game we got beat and I think a big part of that was because we were so good and we were beating people so bad that that we would be out by the third quarter and it didn’t allow us to have the opportunity to fight through the whole game, so having big games like that go down to the wire, I think it prepares you for winning those tough games down the stretch for sure.”
Tennessee should be prepared for a tight-game scenario when it eventually presents itself. Perhaps they have enough experience in tight, big-game situations that they can avoid them all together by closing games out before they nearly slip away. That would eliminate some stress moving forward.
