The Daily Times

There’s been a lot of talk about playing for bowl eligibility coming out of the Vanderbilt and Tennessee football programs this past week as the two perennial rivals prepared to meet for the 105th time.

But after three quarters of play on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, you had to wonder if either team could draw a crowd at a neutral site in postseason.

At that point, it was apparent that the old truism about the team that makes the least number of mistakes winning was going to apply, since both the Vols and Commodores made plenty of them, most of which gave a decided advantage to the other team. Unfortunately, neither could capitalize and it was a stalemate of ineffective efforts until the dawn of the final quarter.

That’s when Vanderbilt finally found a play that worked the way it was drawn up, taking a 21-14 lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass.

When the skillet got hot enough to cook the bacon, the Vols responded with the kind of textbook drive everyone had been expecting with the return of quarterback Tyler Bray, marching for a tying score on a Bray pass to the Vols’ only receiver — Da’Rick Rogers. That came about, however, as the result of one of several momentum-changing Commodore errors — this time roughing the kicker — after an attempted 23-yard field goal by UT had been blocked.

What more could anyone expect after that than overtime? And you got it.

The drama continued when the Commodores — pistol aimed squarely at one foot or the other — got the ball first and ended up almost right away with a third-down situation. Quarterback Jordan Rodgers promptly threw into coverage and the pass was picked off and returned 90 yards by Eric Gordon for the winning touchdown.

But wait — officials ruled Gordon’s knee had touched the ground and the Vols would now have their chance to avoid a fate similar to the Commodores’ in overtime.

But wait — Gordon’s knee did not touch the ground, and after the play was reviewed, Tennessee won the game for the second time in about three minutes.

As if that wasn’t enough drama for one night, some UT assistant coach went screaming through the press box on his way to the elevator, “We finally got a break!”

Which brings to mind another old sports truism — about a team making its own breaks. That’s one to ponder in light of Tennessee’s performances this season.

On this night, however, the clouds over Knoxville opened, UT coach Derek Dooley said, and the Vols prevailed, picking up their first Southeastern Conference win in six attempts and hanging on to a shot at bowl eligibility. That opportunity now depends entirely on next week’s game at (thank goodness for traditional November scheduling) Kentucky.

Although Dooley called the outcome a “big step for the program,” a bigger step would be winning in Lexington and securing his second bowl berth in as many years at the helm, especially given the adversity endured this season.

Leonard Butts is sports editor. He wrote from Knoxville. Write to him at The Daily Times, P.O. Box 9740, Maryville, TN 37802, or e-mail him at (leonard.butts@thedailytimes.com)

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