Tennessee-UAB: Vols Put Out Five-Alarm Blazers in Double Overtime

An early rain shower soaked Knoxville, TN Saturday morning, but it took all emergency Volunteer responders to extinguish an inferno set by the UAB Blazers later in the day at Neyland Stadium. 

In a scene becoming quite common in college football, a smaller school from a lesser-known conference goes on the road to earn a big paycheck and comes back with a bonus—a win.  Saturday afternoon against UAB, from Conference USA, Tennessee came a little too close to the fire and almost got burned in their own home. 

It took a double-overtime effort by the Volunteers to send home a crowd of 95,183 with something to feel good about in a game that nearly went bad, really bad.  The Vols escaped with a much-needed victory on a 25-yard, walk-off touchdown pass from quarterback, Matt Simms, to wide-receiver Denarius Moore, in the second overtime, to give Tennessee the 32-29 win.

Much had been made of this so-called "trap" or "sandwich" game, a game in the middle of two other games of higher priority or relevance.  The irony of this particular game with UAB was that Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley had been an assistant under Nick Saban at LSU in 2000, when the Blazers pulled off a major upset, beating the Tigers 13-10 in Baton Rouge. 

Coach Dooley has never forgotten that game and was determined to not let the Vols get caught looking ahead to next week's game at LSU.

But even with all the warning signals flashing and sirens blaring, Tennessee nearly fell right into the UAB trap.  

The term "sandwich" game, is a better fit for this particular game.  UAB, the sandwich between games against SEC rivals Florida and LSU, nearly spoiled on Saturday before the Vols could eventually devour it in double-overtime.  If not for UAB kicker, Josh Zahn, missing on all five, count 'em 1-2-3-4-5, field goal attempts prior to overtime, this spoiled sandwich would have left Volunteer fans with a bad case of food poisoning. 

But despite the five misses, UAB, just like that old sandwich, kept hanging around.  The injury-riddled Vols would eventually finish it off in stunning fashion.

The contest started easily enough for the Vols, scoring on their opening drive on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Simms to Moore.  But UAB answered with a 52-yard touchdown strike of their own from quarterback, Bryan Ellis to receiver Mike Jones.  The Vols would close out the first quarter with another long touchdown pass, this time Simms hooking up with Zach Rogers for 72 yards.  The Vols led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the Vols extend their lead to 23-7 on a 48-yard field goal by Daniel Lincoln and an interception returned nine yards for a touchdown by Tennessee defensive back, Prentiss Waggner.  Lincoln's extra point try was blocked by UAB but the Vols looked to be in good shape on the scoreboard, at the half.

Despite the seemingly comfortable halftime lead, the Vols continued to struggle on both sides of the ball.  The running game was virtually non-existent and UAB consistently moved the ball right down the field on nearly every possession.  If not for the big play-making ability of Simms and the missed opportunities by UAB, the first half would've looked much different.

The Vols were shut out in regulation in the second half, while UAB marched up and down the field like the Pride of the Southland Marching Band.  Racking up yards and scoring two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to even the score at 23 in the fourth quarter.

UAB had one last chance to secure the win, but Zahn missed his fifth straight field goal attempt, a 54-yarder, with 38 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the contest into overtime.

The two teams traded field goals in the first overtime.  UAB added another field goal in the second overtime, setting up the heroics of Simms and Moore.

On Tennessee's first play of the second overtime, Simms threw a 25-yard touchdown strike to Moore to finally put out the Blazers fire. 

Final Score:  Tennessee 32, UAB 29

In a game that UAB dominated in nearly every statistical category, it's difficult to understand how they lost.

UAB ran 92 offensive plays for a staggering total of 545 yards, compared to Tennessee's 66 plays for a modest 286 yards.

UAB out gained the Vols on the ground 116 to 42.

In 92 plays, the Tennessee defense had no quarterback sacks in 60 pass attempts.  On the other side, Simms was sacked five times on 34 pass attempts. 

It was the big play-making ability of the durable Simms and the fact that the Vols committed no turnovers, combined with the Vols kicking game that enabled them to escape with the win. 

Leaving Neyland Stadium after the game, there was a sense of eeriness in the Tennessee crowd.  For the first time I can ever remember after a Volunteer victory, there was not even a hint of the ever-present chant, "It's great to be a Tennessee Vol!"  It is still great to be a Tennessee Vol, just a little tough right now.

Vol Notes

Tennessee improves to 2-2 for the season and 9-2 all time in overtime games.  The Vols are a perfect 5-0 in overtime games in Neyland Stadium. Matt Simms finished off an outstanding performance with 244 passing yards, completing 19-34 passing attempts and three touchdowns.  Next up for the Vols: a trip to Baton Rouge this weekend to take on Les Miles' undefeated, 4-0 Bayou Bengals.  Kickoff is set for 3:30 ET.