Admit it. You thought it was possible. Tennessee Football had been playing with fire for three straight games, getting burned once against the Arkansas Razorbacks, because of the offense not scoring enough and not cashing in on enough opportunities. It was happening again early in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Vols trailed UK 10-7. In the first half, they had suffered a Dylan Sampson fumble in UK territory and two missed field goals by Max Gilbert, one from 45 yards and the other from 40. Miles Kitselman and Chris Brazzell II each dropped touchdown passes as well, so the Vols at that point had failed on three trips to the red zone.
By this point, though, they had failed on their fourth trip. Once again, they drove deep into Kentucky territory, and this time, the usually reliable Gilbert missed a 34-yard field goal, highly uncharacteristic of him. Now it just seemed to clear. Tennessee Football was going to pay for making too many mistakes, as the law of averages said they wouldn’t get away with it forever.
Indeed, on the next Kentucky drive, the defense seemed ready to quit, as Brock Vandagriff had a nine-yard run, and them Jamarion Wilcox had a six-yard run. Lucky for the Vols, though, the Wildcats decided to inexplicably call a pass play on 1st and 10 from the 35-yard line, and that’s when it all changed.
Joshua Josephs came around the edge and strip-sacked Vandagriff. Jeremiah Telander recovered the fumble. All of a sudden, the Vols were back in business in Kentucky territory with a huge play from the unit that has been delivering for Rocky Top since the beginning of the season.
Now, the defense did get a fourth down stop when Kentucky was in the red zone on the opening drive of the game, and Andre Turrentine had an interception in the first half, but those drives ended in the first missed field goal and Sampson’s fumble. As a result, scoring wasn’t a guarantee. This one felt different, though.
UT’s offense was not going to choke away another opportunity, and they managed to take advantage of the short field with a five-play, 28-yard drive that ended with a Dylan Sampson touchdown run to put them up 14-10. They would never give up the lead after that, and it all came back to the Josephs sack.
Of course, the Will Brooks interception set up another touchdown two drives later, and that would give the Vols the necessary points to win the game, but Tennessee Football really swung the momentum with the Josephs strip-sack. As a result, that was very clearly the turning point in the game.
