VOLS SURVIVE GAMECOCKS COMEBACK,
WIN IN OT 27-24
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- All those
complaining about Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer will have to quiet down for
a while. The Volunteers are in position to play for a conference title
again.
Daniel Lincoln kicked a game-tying 48-yard
field goal with 5 second left, then provided the only points in overtime,
and Tennessee recovered after blowing a big lead to beat No. 15 South
Carolina 27-24 Saturday night.
The victory, coupled with No. 20 Georgia's
victory over ninth-ranked Florida earlier Saturday, puts the Volunteers
(5-3, 3-2) atop the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division. The Vols are
tied with Georgia but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating the
Bulldogs earlier this month.
Lincoln got two chances to force overtime.
He hooked a 43-yarder wide left, but a false start penalty on the Vols gave
him another chance. This time, Lincoln sent the 48-yarder through to tie the
game at 24.
Then he won it with his 27-yarder in
overtime.
Steve Spurrier came in with his Gamecocks
(6-3, 3-3) in charge of the East and needing to win out for South Carolina
to become the first SEC team other than Tennessee, Florida or Georgia to win
the division title.
But Ryan Succop, who gave South Carolina
its only lead of the game at 24-21 with 1:24 left with his own 49-yard field
goal, was wide right on a 40-yarder on fourth-and-8.
Fans filled talk radio shows calling for
Fulmer's firing after the Vols were embarrassed in a 41-17 loss to Alabama
last week. Fulmer's in his 16th season at Tennessee, but his last SEC title
was in 1998, when the Vols also won the national championship. Their last
SEC East title was 2004.
The Vols have been good, but that's not
good enough for many in Knoxville.
Georgia gave the Volunteers a fresh
opportunity in the SEC East before they took the field Saturday night and
Fulmer's guys came through - barely.
South Carolina came in looking for its best
start since 2001. But two of its four turnovers came in the final 6:52 of
regulation. Spurrier threw his headset to the turf in disgust after Blake
Mitchell, who came off the bench in relief of Chris Smelley, overthrew Kenny
McKinley on third down.
That forced the Gamcocks to settle for
Succop's field goal.
Tennessee had gained only 70 yards in the
second half, but got a huge lift from LaMarcus Coker on special teams after
South Carolina took the lead. He took the kickoff up the right sideline to
the 31, stopped and went back across the field to the left to set up a
struggling Erik Ainge at the 47.
It didn't help.
Three plays later, Caspser Brinkley sacked
Ainge after the Vols used their last timeout. Ainge spiked the ball to stop
the clock with 9 seconds left.
Lincoln came in and made the longest kick
of his career when it counted most.
South Carolina chose to start on defense in
overtime, and the Gamecocks held Tennessee to Lincoln's field goal.
But Mitchell bobbled the snap on the
Gamecocks' first play, and his pass to Cory Boyd resulted in a 5-yard loss.
He found Freddie Brown for a short pass, then Mitchell overthrew McKinley in
the left corner of the end zone.
South Carolina outgained Tennessee 501-317
and held the ball for more than 36 minutes. Boyd finished with 20 carries
for 160 yards and a 29-yard touchdown run.
Mitchell was 31-of-45 for 288 yards, and he
ran for a TD and threw for another, an 8-yarder to McKinley that tied it at
21 in the fourth quarter.
Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty each ran
for touchdowns, and Ainge threw for a TD and 216 yards on a night where he
bounced a handful of passes and overthrew others.
The Vols improved to 6-1 in overtime. This
was South Carolina's second overtime game and first since Sept. 27, 2003.
Both were in Knoxville, and the Gamecocks now have lost both.
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