By Jimmy Hyams
SEC teams are supposed to beat Southern Miss. That’s one reason they keep scheduling USM.
Not that the Golden Eagles are a slouch. They have been to 16 bowls games since 1997. They won 12 games in 2011. They produced Brett Favre.
But a win over Southern Miss isn’t going to pad your resume if you’re a Power 5 team.
Tennessee (4-5) didn’t pad its resume Saturday night with a less-than-thrilling 24-10 victory over USM (5-4). But it did help the Vols avoid their first five-game losing streak since 1988. It did help a homecoming crowd of about 70,000 go home happy – or at least, not mad.
And it did show a lot of resourcefulness and resolve.
Yes, those are two of Tennessee coach Butch Jones’ favorite words.
But he’s right about what happened against Southern Miss.
Tennessee won despite losing another quarterback, despite playing without six offensive linemen who have started, despite gaining just 210 yards (95 rushing), despite going 2-for-13 on third down, despite going three-and-out on six of nine second-half possessions and despite a heavy cloud hanging over Jones’ head.
Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, making his fourth start in place of the injured Quinten Dormady, suffered an apparent ankle injury and didn’t play in the second half. He was 9-of-13 for 102 yards in the first half. Jones said Guarantano could have played in the second half but wasn’t sure about Guarantano’s availability this Saturday at Missouri.
Guarantano was replaced by freshman Will McBride, who was supposed to redshirt this year. McBride threw a couple of nice passes, but was 1-of-8 for 13 yards, not exactly stellar numbers.
McBride was working behind a makeshift offensive line that was underachieving before it was battered by injuries. Three starters — Brett Kendrick (concussion), Marcus Tatum (ankle), Drew Richmond (concussion) – were out, joining Chance Hall (knee), Jack Jones (quit due to injury) and Venzel Boulware (quit due to lack of playing time) on the sideline.
That forced the Vols to start converted tight end Devante Brooks at right tackle. The redshirt freshman hadn’t played in a game since 2013 since he missed both his junior and senior years of high school due to torn ACLs. Guard Ryan Johnson, a redshirt freshman, got his first start. And guard Riley Locklear, a running back as a high school sophomore, got his first action of the season as a true freshman.
Behind that backdrop, Tennessee knew it wouldn’t generate much offense against a defense that ranked No. 27 in the nation in total yards and held Kentucky to 78 rushing yards earlier this season.
The victory culminated a tumultuous homecoming week on Rocky Top. Many awaited a Sunday press conference after the Kentucky game thinking Jones would be fired. Didn’t happen.
Then it was learned Kendrick played against Kentucky with a concussion. Exactly when he suffered the head injury isn’t known. Jones said emphatically that he would never play anyone with a head injury, wasn’t told of the injury during the game and correctly noted that if a player did have a head injury, playing him would be in the hands of doctors.
Then, former UT All-American Antone Davis resigned from his position as Vol for Life Coordinator, saying he was bullied and verbally abused by Jones.
With all those distractions, UT players managed to focus well enough to chalk one up in the win column.
“I’m excited for our players, proud for our players,’’ Jones said.
UT relied on a defense that hadn’t been very reliable. But this time, the defense came through, limiting the Golden Eagles to a mere field goal until midway in the fourth quarter when USM drove 95 yards on 10 plays to cut the margin to 24-10 with 6:45 left.
It didn’t matter that UT’s offense went three-and-out on its last five possessions and that it needed to drive just 39 yards to score two second half touchdowns. It did what it had to do to defeat a team that looked every bit like the squad that was upset the week before by Alabama-Birmingham.
Southern Miss managed 279 yards, 70 coming on one play. It didn’t have another gain of more than 15 yards.
“I was particularly pleased to sit back and see them sing the fight song,’’ Jones said of his players, who hadn’t tasted victory in 42 days.
Linebacker Colton Jumper, who had seven tackles and 2.5 for loss, was relieved.
“Six weeks without a win,’’ said Jumper, whose defense has forced eight turnovers in the last three games. “It feels good when you haven’t won in a while.’’
Running back John Kelly led the Vols with 79 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
“It feels good to finally get a win,’’ said Kelly, who was suspended last week for the Kentucky game after a marijuana citation. “Honestly, it hurt me to miss the game last week.’’
Postgame, UT played joyous music in the locker room. But players didn’t move at first.
“For a minute,’’ Kelly said. “I think we forgot how to celebrate.’’
That can happen when you go 42 days between victories.
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