| NEWS Tennessee's loss to Georgia State is worst in modern era of UT Vols football - Knox News

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Georgia State quarterback Dan Ellington broke through the defensive line, cut to the outside and ran all the way into Tennessee football history Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.

His 22-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run gave the 26-point underdog Panthers a 12-point lead en route to a startling 38-30 victory that will rock Big Orange Nation to its core.

Calling it an “upset” doesn’t do it justice. This was the worst loss in the modern era of Tennessee football.

Tennessee lost to Rutgers in 1979, but that Rutgers team finished 8-3. A loss to 4-8 Wyoming in 2008 was worse than that.

But this was worse. Much worse.

You need to know the history to realize how bad.

Tennessee started playing football in 1891. Georgia State didn’t get into the football business until 2010. But UT’s 119-year head start wasn’t a factor on this afternoon.

More perspective: The Panthers ended a 2-10 season in 2018 on a seven-game losing streak. They lost their only game to a Power-5 conference opponent (N.C. State) by 34 points, and eight of their losses were by 14 points or more — usually a lot more.

When they opened their season against the Vols, they already had been tabbed to finish last in the Sun Belt’s East Division.

Given that background, it’s no mystery why UT was a 26-point favorite. But it never looked the part in what qualified as a dreadful opening act for a team expected to be much improved after finishing 5-7 last season.

Tennessee's new defensive front was the team's biggest concern entering the season. That concern is greater now.

The Vols gave up 213 yards rushing and two touchdown drives of more than 75 yards. Moreover, Georgia State's advantage at the line of scrimmage increased as the game went along.

UT's offense exhibited flaws of its own. Its two most glaring stats: only 93 yards rushing and four sacks allowed.

The stadium was almost empty by the time Georgia State put the finishing touches on the victory. Many of those fans who left early might not want to return anytime soon.

You can cite all sorts of reasons for Tennessee’s defeat. But the majority of the blame falls on second-year coach Jeremy Pruitt.

He had an entire off-season to prepare his team for this. And the Vols looked just as bad as they did in the last two games of the 2018 season — Pruitt’s first as a head coach — losing by a combined score of 88-30 to Missouri and Vanderbilt.

As bad as Tennessee was in a 4-8 2017 season, it was never this bad. And that season got coach Butch Jones fired.

I wrote in preseason that Pruitt was a long way from the hot seat because Tennessee would have to give him time to build a program. But when a UT coach loses his season opener to Georgia State, he's on the hot seat.
 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dan Ellington threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score as 26-point underdog Georgia State upset Tennessee 38-30 on Saturday in one of the first stunners of the college football season.

Georgia State (1-0) beat a Power Five opponent for the first time since this Sun Belt Conference school launched its program in 2010. The Panthers' closest call before this had come in 2016 when they lost 23-17 to Wisconsin after leading in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee (0-1) suffered one of the more embarrassing setbacks in its history, the latest blow for a storied program attempting to bounce back from two straight losing seasons.

Georgia State was coming off a 2-10 season in which it had lost its last seven games. Only one of those seven losses was decided by less than two touchdowns.

But the Panthers outplayed and outworked Tennessee on Saturday.

The hard times for Tennessee were evident from a look at the Neyland Stadium stands. Although the announced attendance was 85,503, thousands of fans apparently left at halftime and many others headed for shaded areas, leaving plenty of sections of the 102,455-seat facility virtually empty as Tennessee attempted its comeback.

Tra Barnett put Georgia State ahead for good 28-23 when he raced untouched around the right side with 8:56 remaining. Barnett ended up rushing for 95 yards on 21 carries.

Tennessee crossed midfield on its next possession before Jaylon Jones came in from Guarantano's blindside and sacked him, forcing a fumble that Georgia State's Jhi'Shawn Taylor recovered at the Vols' 39 with 7:10 left.

That led to the game-clinching touchdown by Ellington with 4:45 left.

Ellington faked a handoff and then made multiple moves to elude defenders before running into the left corner of the end zone for a 22-yard score that left Tennessee defensive backs Alontae Taylor and Shawn Shamburger lying on the field hurt as the Panthers celebrated in the end zone.



Brandon Wright made it 38-23 by kicking a 48-yard field goal with 2:37 left after a Guarantano interception. Guarantano ended up 26 of 40 for 311 yards with two touchdowns, including an 18-yarder to Jauan Jennings that capped the scoring with two seconds remaining.

A huge momentum swing early in the fourth quarter made it seem as though Tennessee would avoid the upset.

Georgia State led 21-20 and had the ball at Tennessee's 19-yard line when DeAndre Johnson sacked Ellington, forcing a fumble that LaTrell Bumphus recovered for the Vols.

On the next play, Guarantano found tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson wide open down the left sideline for a 54-yard gain. That completion set up a Brent Cimaglia 31-yard field goal that put Tennessee ahead 23-21 with 12:05 left.

That's the moment when the Panthers could have let the game get away from them. They instead regrouped and delivered the most memorable moment this program has ever produced.

Tennessee paid Georgia State $950,000 to travel and play in Knoxville.



THE TAKEAWAY

Georgia State
: Ellington's a senior quarterback who showed the kind of veteran moxie that's needed to produce this kind of upset. After completing just one of his first nine passes, Ellington ended up going 11 of 24 for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 61 yards on 14 carries. Most importantly, he found a way to bounce back after committing the turnover early in the fourth quarter that helped Tennessee take the lead.

Tennessee: Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt had overhauled his coaching staff after going 5-7 in his debut season last year. Tennessee's paying $1.5 million this season to new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and $1 million to new defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley. That new-look staff opened the season with an utterly unimaginable loss

UP NEXT

Georgia State hosts Football Championship Subdivision program Furman on Saturday.

Tennessee hosts Brigham Young on Saturday.
 
Worse SEC loss in modern era of football?

I've seen a few suggest LSU's loss to Troy ranks similarly but let's not forget this is a Georgia State program that started less than a decade ago. When did they join the Sun Belt? I'm thinking it was back in 2014.

Bama's loss to ULM rank alongside of the UT loss? I've seen some try to suggest they aren't comparable. Hrrm...not sure I can go there.
 
I do not watch the barners so what kind of rabbit out of the hat did they pull off (I know the score)?
about 15 second left and score the winning TD. After the Bus said, We are one of the best in the country.
 
about 15 second left and score the winning TD. After the Bus said, We are one of the best in the country.
You forgot to add that their savior Bo Nix tossed a weak pass down field late that really should have been an easy interception... oh and they were in pretty easy FG range and 3 points wins and under 20 seconds left. .. WR goes up and makes a play on the crap pass and scores a TD.

Then their genius coach, up by five and facing a 15 yard penalty on the kick off that will give the other team good field position for one Hail Mary... decides to kick an extra point instead of going for two... putting them up by 6 instead of 7.

You know, normal auburn sh*t.
 
Worse SEC loss in modern era of football?

I've seen a few suggest LSU's loss to Troy ranks similarly but let's not forget this is a Georgia State program that started less than a decade ago. When did they join the Sun Belt? I'm thinking it was back in 2014.

Bama's loss to ULM rank alongside of the UT loss? I've seen some try to suggest they aren't comparable. Hrrm...not sure I can go there.

The title of the article states worst loss on modern day UT football not SEC as a total. I can't think of a worse loss.
 
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