Tennessee battled for 60 minutes on Saturday, but the Volunteers came up short against No. 1 Texas.
The Vols fell 20-17 in front of a Checkered Neyland crowd that featured United States President Donald J. Trump.
Tennessee falls to 3-1 on the season and starts SEC play with a 0-1 mark.
“Start by just saying, our fans were phenomenal today,” Head Coach Josh Heupel said. “We walk in the stadium at, I don’t know, 9:30, and it’s 40% full. It’s an unbelievable environment; they’re the best, and I thank them. Sorry, we didn’t have better execution to come away with the win. Credit to Texas, good football team.”
“Loved the effort, how we played defensively, a lot of our special teams, offensively, just not anywhere close to being good enough to beat a team like this,” Heupel said. “Everybody will have a hand in it when we go back Monday with the tape, with the guys, but up front, not good enough. Quarterback, not good enough. Everybody’s got a hand in it ultimately. We’ve got to be better.”
Tennessee nearly rallied from 10 down in the closing minutes.
The Vols scored on a 30-yard touchdown from Faizon Brandon to Mike Matthews with 1:22 on the clock. On the ensuing kickoff, Arion Carter hoped on the onside kick.
The Volunteers were unable to get anything going on the drive and a deep back was knocked away by Texas defenders in the end zone.
“I do love how the team continued to fight, play, and play until the last play,” Heupel said. “We didn’t play smart enough, but I’ll take the effort. Playing the next play and fighting until the clock hits zero.”
Brandon was 17-of-29 for 145 yards in his SEC debut. The Volunteers, however, gave up 10 sacks to the Longhorn defense.
“It is a lot of everything,” Heupel said. “The O-line has to be better. It can be better. At times we were giving up pressure off of chip protection, and we have to be able to execute that better. There are times with the quarterback, his decision-making, not getting rid of it when there are opportunities to get rid of it, and you combine all of that together, and you play a good person on the other side, you just cannot win that way.”
Desean Bishop and Daune Morris had 34 and 33 rushing yards, respectively, for Tennessee.
Texas opened the scoring as Raleek Brown scored on a nine-yard run on the game’s opening drive, but Tennessee cut the gap to 7-3 with a 33-yard field goal from Cooper Ranvier.
Texas added a field goal early in the second quarter and maintained a 10-3 lead at the half.
Tennessee saw special teams make a play as Qua Moss returned a punt for a 57-yard touchdown to tie things up at 10-10.
Texas, however, added a field goal on their next drive, and then Brown added a touchdown to give the Longhorns a 10-point lead.
That set the stage for the frantic ending as Tennessee saw their upset bid come up short.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning was 14-of-19 passing for 201 yards and an interception.
