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Black Is Beautiful – Vols Rain On Gamecocks
Published by MoonDog on November 1, 2009
Tennessee wore black jerseys on a rainy Halloween night in Knoxville and forced four South Carolina turnovers to help give the Vols a 31-13 win over the No. 22 Gamecocks.
After warming up before the game in their traditional orange jerseys, the Vols took the field wearing the quickly produced black jerseys for the first time in school history.
Whether South Carolina’s early turnovers were a result of the black jerseys is up for debate, but Tennessee’s defense continued to impress by forcing three early miscues that lead to 21 points.
On their first offensive series of the game, South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia completed a 14-yard pass to Justice Cunningham.
The Gamecocks’ receiver took one step before the Vols’ Janzen Jackson stuck him, forcing a fumble that he recovered at the South Carolina 43.
The Volunteers only needed two plays and 43 seconds to capitalize. Jonathan Crompton completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to fullback Austin Johnson to put the Vols up 7-0 just 1:26 into the game.
On the Gamecocks next possession, Garcia completed an 11-yard pass to Jason Barnes on first down. On the second play from scrimmage, running back Kenny Miles ran for 2 yards when he was met by Tennessee’s Rico McCoy.
The Vols’ linebacker jarred the ball loose from Miles and Wes Brown recovered it for Tennessee at the South Carolina 27.
Tennessee Running Back Montario Hardesty Scores Against South Carolina
The Volunteers needed only four plays – all runs by Montario Hardesty – to take advantage of the Gamecocks second turnover.
Hardesty scored on a dazzling 14-yard run in which he spun away from a South Carolina defender to put Tennessee ahead 14-0 with 11:00 left in the first quarter.
South Carolina’s next five possessions of the first half resulted in four punts and one fumble that lead to another Tennessee touchdown.
Early in the second quarter on a 2nd and 10 from the South Carolina 22, Garcia scrambled out of the pocket gaining six yards before the Vols’ Savion Frazier knocked the ball loose.
Tennessee’s Dennis Rogan returned the fumble six yards to the Gamecocks 22 giving the Vols another short field to work with.
The Volunteers needed six plays to score when Crompton completed a 2-yard pass to fullback Kevin Cooper on a 4th and goal with 11:38 left in the half.
The Gamecocks (6-3, 3-3) got on the board with their final possession of the first when Spencer Lanning made a 47-yard field goal as time expired to cut Tennessee’s lead to 21-3.
South Carolina scored on their second possession of the third quarter after a 9-play, 43-yard drive resulted in another Lanning field goal, this time from 32 yards out to cut the Vols lead to 21-6 with 6:40 left in the third.
Tennessee (4-4, 2-3) answered on their next possession when they put together their longest drive of the game, a 5-play 56-yard drive that ended with Hardesty scoring his second touchdown of the game on a 7-yard run to put the Vols ahead 28-6 with 3:25 left in the third.
The Gamecocks came right back, needing only 1:20 to cut the Vols lead. Garcia connected on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Moe Brown that ended a 3-play, 77-yard drive to trim Tennessee’s lead to 28-13.
Garcia completed 25-of-50 passes for the game for 300 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked twice and was under pressure for most of the game.
South Carolina outgained Tennessee 365-341, but that was mostly due to the turnovers giving the Vols a short field to work with.
Tennessee held the Gamecocks to 65 yards rushing and won the time of possession, 33:25 to 26:35.
Crompton continued his recent streak of solid play, completing 12-of-24 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Although his numbers weren’t spectacular, they didn’t have to be. The senior quarterback didn’t throw an interception and made good decisions throughout the game.
Hardesty had another outstanding game as well, rushing for 121 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns.
Tennessee’s win serves a number of purposes, mostly helping the Vols take another step towards becoming bowl eligible and ridding themselves of last week’s heartbreaking loss to Alabama.
With four games remaining (Memphis, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky), Tennessee has an opportunity to finish strong and could end up as the second place team in the SEC East.
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