Tennessee Defense Flipping the Season's Script with Fourth-Quarter Heroics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—As a nervous Neyland Stadium looked on, waiting and worrying about South Carolina having the ball down just three points with a minute to go, Tennessee's defenders brimmed with belief that they'd make a play.

Even when Gamecocks tight end Jerell Adams shed a couple of tacklers and rumbled 30 yards inside the Tennessee 20, the Volunteers were determined to get a stop.

It came when nickelback Malik Foreman jarred the ball free, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin recovered the fumble with 32 seconds left to secure a 27-24 win.

"We've just got the confidence, man, that when we need to make a play, we're going to get it done and not let them in the end zone," a beaming Reeves-Maybin said after the game.

"We felt like, late in the game, we weren't going to be denied; we were going to stop them, and that's what we did."

The maligned Foreman—who has been torched by receivers as often as he's made plays this year in relief of injured starter Rashaan Gaulden—saved the game and perhaps the season with the big forced fumble.

This is a game the Vols simply wouldn't have won earlier in the year.

As a matter of fact, they failed twice as Oklahoma and Florida were the ones who made massive offensive plays against a Swiss-cheese defense late in those eventual losses.

But with senior safety Brian Randolph swatting away a would-be, game-tying touchdown pass in the win over Georgia the last time the Vols were in Neyland, that 1,000-foot psychological wall circling Tennessee's football program crumbled.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Or, at least, that's what the Vols say. Now, UT believes it is the assertive team with games on the line, at least on defense.

"We made critical plays at critical points of the game," UT coach Butch Jones said afterward. "It's the evolution of learning how to win."

It wasn't just Foreman's forced fumble, either.

Two series before, Carolina faced a 3rd-and-2 and gave the ball to punishing running back Brandon Wilds. Tennessee defensive tackle Owen Williams—who had the best game of his Vols career—met him behind the line, stuffed him and forced a punt.

On the next series, All-SEC receiver Pharoh Cooper broke into a crease of daylight for what would have been a first-down completion on 3rd-and-12, but Foreman swatted the pass away.

UT desperately needed a defensive stop. It got three.

"We know what it feels like to make a big play at the end, with Randolph doing it in the Georgia game and Malik coming up big in this one," Reeves-Maybin said. "Every time at the end of the game, we've got to get that fire in our eyes like we've got to do whatever it takes to get the win."

It wound up being a beautiful finish for Tennessee in what was a hideous performance.

The Vols wound up with three turnovers, and Joshua Dobbs threw at least three more passes that could have been intercepted. One of those fumbles was by Alvin Kamara inside the UT 10-yard line which South Carolina cashed in for a touchdown.

They had just 55 rushing yards on 26 carries in the final three quarters against the league's worst rushing defense.

Even though the defense came up with huge plays, the Vols couldn't stop the Gamecocks at all in a 21-point third quarter that tied the game. 

While the Vols did make the play at the end of the game, Adams had rumbled all the way inside the 20-yard line breaking tackles before Tennessee stopped him and forced the turnover.

Afterward, Jones called for everybody to be "positive" in his postgame press conference, especially with the way his team responded to the early season adversity. In a season full of gnashing of teeth by Tennessee's fans, UT's coach was fiery in defending his team.

"...[Y]ou know, I'm never going to apologize for winning," Jones said, unprompted. "You know, this is a hard-fought game, and we were playing a good football team. And I give South Carolina all the credit in the world. They’re on scholarship. They’re gonna have success.

"We're still building. I’m proud of our players. I'm proud of our program. We need to start being positive around here because we've got kids that are giving it their all every single day."

Regardless of what Jones says, there was little reason to be positive early in the season as UT blew double-digit leads against the Sooners, Gators and Arkansas and lost.

Saturday night was different.

Yes, they blew another one against South Carolina, but much like they did at the end of the Georgia game, the Vols found a way to make a crucial, game-saving play when they had to have it. 

If UT plays the way it did against the Gamecocks, it will have a hard time winning out against the strong defenses of Missouri and Vanderbilt. But thanks to Foreman's heroics and a bunch of big plays in key moments throughout the fourth quarter, those games still mean plenty for Tennessee's season.

Eight wins is attainable, and the opportunity for the Vols to take a major step forward this year is still there thanks to the huge plays UT's defense made the last two times the Vols played in front of the home folks.

"Even if it's ugly," defensive end Derek Barnett said afterward, "we still got the 'W' in the end.

"Winning is hard."

Sometimes, nobody makes it look harder than the Vols.

All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.