knoxville, tenn. -- butch jones, that bricklayer extraordinaire who also coaches a little football at tennessee, promised there would be days like this when he took the job.
Of course, when the bottom falls out of a program the way it has at tennessee over the past few years, days like this probably seem a lot closer to fantasy than they do reality for even the most orange-blooded fans.
But not saturday and not with this tennessee team, or, as jones refers to it, "team 117."
this was as real as it gets, and the vols march back to relevance suddenly seems a lot more realistic after their last-second 23-21 victory over no. 11 south carolina, setting off the kind of joyous scene in neyland stadium that was once the rule in these parts.
Jones, whose brick-by-brick mantra has taken hold on rocky top, chest-bumped everybody in sight, from his players, to tennessee athletic director dave hart, to duck dynasty star justin martin.
i thought our team took a valuable step forward two weeks ago (in a 34-31 overtime loss to then-no. 6 georgia), jones said. it was gut-wrenching, but our kids believed and they built confidence. Confidence is a powerful thing. Belief is a powerful thing.
South carolina was the fourth ranked opponent the vols have played this season. No. 1 alabama will be the fifth next week, and then its on to missouri, which is the lone unbeaten team right now in the secs eastern division.
we can play with anybody, walls said. but youve got to go out there and prove it on the field. Thats what were doing right now, and the best thing is that we can still get a lot better.
tennessee took a 17-7 lead into halftime saturday against a south carolina team that obliterated arkansas 52-7 on the road last week. The gamecocks, after their lackluster start, came charging back in the third quarter and took a 21-17 edge.
there wasnt any panic. We knew it was still our game, tennessee defensive tackle daniel mccullers said.
Indeed it was.
The gamecocks (5-2, 3-2 sec) had to finish the game without starting quarterback connor shaw, who injured his left knee and was scheduled to undergo an mri later saturday night. But even before shaw had to leave the game, south carolina was struggling to get anything going against tennessees defense in the fourth quarter.
South carolina was held to 12 total yards in the fourth quarter and had four consecutive three-and-outs.
give tennessee credit, south carolina coach steve spurrier said. i think they outplayed us, although we were within a play or two of winning it, but we didnt do it.
nope, this day belonged to tennessee.
we needed that badly, desperately, tennessee running back rajion neal said. its been a long time.
