Tennessee Football: Ranking the 5 Best Moments for the Volunteers in 2014

While the postseason-bound Tennessee Volunteers are waiting to hear where they'll play their bowl game, it's time to take a look back at some of the top moments for the team in 2014.

The Vols entered the season with a huge range of expectations. Final records ranging from 4-8 to 8-4 all seemed reasonable based on how well the freshman would play and the overall difficulty of the SEC.

For example, few could have expected the Ole Miss Rebels would be as strong as they were when Tennessee played them, but that loss was offset by playing a South Carolina team with one of its worst defenses in recent history.

Missouri also proved that its success in 2013 was no fluke, as it repeated as SEC East champions for the second year in a row.

Overall, Tennessee's season was a roller coaster for the coaches, players and fans. Just when it seemed the Vols were a lock to become bowl eligible, the team would get blown out in SEC play while an upcoming opponent would play extremely well. 

Despite the constant setbacks and porous offensive play, the Vols managed to make the best out of a difficult schedule and hit the .500 mark for the first time since 2010.

Here are five of the best moments from a statistically average but ultimately program-changing season for the Vols. 

Dismantling Utah State in the Opening Game

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Throughout the offseason, the Utah State game was pegged as a potential loss for the Vols by the media and college football analysts, according to Sports Illustrated's Zac Ellis. 

The Aggies, led by dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate Chuckie Keeton, had won nine games in 2013 and were expected to win even more in 2014.

Meanwhile, Tennessee would enter the game with brand-new offensive and defensive lines and relative uncertainty at the quarterback position.

However, it didn't take long after the opening kickoff to prove that the Vols weren't the pushovers many thought they were and that Utah State wasn't quite ready to hang with an SEC team.

With a 38-7 win, Tennessee kicked off the 2014 season with a bang and appeared to be in position to make a run at the SEC East crown. 

A Blowout Victory Against Kentucky

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For the first seven weeks of the season, the narrative in the SEC East was that the Kentucky Wildcats might be the team to beat for a trip to Atlanta.

The Wildcats sat at 5-1, their only loss coming off a controversial no-call in triple overtime in Gainesville against the Florida Gators. Meanwhile, Tennessee was 3-3 and still looking for its first win in the conference.

USA Today college football writer Dan Wolken even went as far as saying that Mark Stoops' rebuilding job at Kentucky appeared to be ahead of Butch Jones' at Tennessee.

However, as the weeks went by, the Wildcats' positive momentum started to dry up, while the Vols managed to generate some of their own.

By the time the two teams met at Neyland Stadium in November, the two teams were worlds apart mentally and physically—and it showed up on the scoreboard.

Tennessee's resounding win over the Wildcats was its biggest SEC win in years and reminiscent of the powerhouse Vols teams of the past. 

Joshua Dobbs' Emergence in the Alabama Game

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After two consecutive games without scoring a touchdown, Tennessee's offense appeared to be dead in the water.

Then, to rub salt in the wound, Alabama's high-powered offense led by former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin seemed like it could do no wrong when the two teams met at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 25. 

After jumping out to a 27-0 second-quarter lead, it looked like Tennessee was about to be on the receiving end of a beatdown similar to the one the Crimson Tide laid on Texas A&M one week earlier.

But when Joshua Dobbs entered the game, something happened. Tennessee's offense started moving the ball. The offensive line stopped giving up sack after sack. And the Vols actually managed to put the ball into the end zone.

Without Dobbs' emergence against the Crimson Tide, it's likely Tennessee would have finished the season 4-8 or worse. Credit his scrambling ability with bringing the offense back to life after Justin Worley's shoulder injury reduced his accuracy and eventually sidelined him for the season. 

The 4th-Quarter Stand Against Vanderbilt

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The entire fourth quarter on Nov. 29 was a scene all too familiar for Tennessee fans. 

After jumping out to a quick lead, the Vols suddenly couldn't do anything right, while the formerly hapless Vanderbilt Commodores seemed like a team renewed. 

Sophomore quarterback Patton Robinette twice had the ball and an opportunity to tie—or even go for a two-point conversion and win—the game. 

Last season, Robinette led the Commodores on a quick trip down the field in the waning minutes of the game, which was capped off by a devastating pump fake and trot into the end zone to end Tennessee's bowl hopes.

This year, however, no such comeback or easy drive occurred. Instead, Robinette was pressured on nearly every snap. When he wasn't being sacked, he was throwing the ball with a defender attached to his waist or waving a hand in his face.

Ultimately, Vanderbilt's last-ditch effort to win the game fell short on 4th-and-18 with around 30 seconds left to play.

Tennessee's offense lined up for one last play, and Joshua Dobbs dropped to his knee to secure the Vols' first bowl berth since 2010. 

Beating South Carolina in Overtime

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When Tennessee traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to take on the Gamecocks on Nov. 1, the offense could do no wrong.

Unfortunately for the Vols, neither could South Carolina's.

After jumping out to a 21-14 halftime lead, the Vols watched their advantage in the game disappear with every backbreaking play produced by the Gamecocks offense.

First it was a short Brandon Wilds run to tie the game in the third quarter. Then it was a short pass to Pharoh Cooper in the end zone to go up by seven. And then it was a devastating 85-yard pass from Dylan Thompson to Cooper to put the Gamecocks up by two touchdowns.

To make matters worse, once Tennessee finally responded with a score of its own, so did South Carolina. Except its response was particularly brutal—a 70-yard touchdown by Brandon Wilds to seemingly put the game out of reach.

Then, as everyone who has seen the game knows, Joshua Dobbs generated one of the most thrilling comebacks at Tennessee in a decade or more.

Not only did the Vols earn their first SEC win of the season that day, but they also reignited their journey toward bowl eligibility—a season-long goal that finally came to fruition last week against the Vanderbilt Commodores.