NASHVILLE — The best-scoring Tennessee soccer workforce in historical past misplaced 48-45 in additional time to Purdue in a controversial ending within the TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl on Thursday.
It ended coach Josh Heupel’s in any other case sturdy debut season on a bitter observe.
In additional time, it was dominated that UT working again Jaylen Wright was stopped a foot shy of a go-ahead landing. Video replay appeared to indicate that Wright broke the airplane of the purpose line, and his knees by no means touched the bottom.
However the name was upheld as a result of the officers decided his ahead progress had been stopped. Purdue received it on Mitchell Fineran’s 39-yard area purpose in entrance of a principally orange-clad sellout crowd of 69,489 at Nissan Stadium, the most important in Music Metropolis Bowl historical past.
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UT (7-6) broke its single-season scoring report with 511 factors. The earlier report of 484 factors was held by the 1993 workforce in Phillip Fulmer’s first season as coach.
However it wasn’t sufficient to take down Purdue (9-4) within the first of 4 SEC vs. Massive Ten bowls this postseason. Listed below are seven observations from UT’s bowl loss.
Loopy fourth-quarter led to additional time
Contents
- 1 Loopy fourth-quarter led to additional time
- 2 Hendon Hooker had record-setting bowl efficiency
- 3 Cedric Tillman prolonged TD streak, after which some
- 4 Jeremy Banks, protection made performs when offense sputtered
- 5 Bowl win streak snapped simply shy of report
- 6 Vols got here out sturdy to begin, once more
- 7 UT misplaced lead in lower than a minute
It was a wild fourth quarter, because the groups scored two TDs every within the closing 5 minutes.
Purdue’s Payne Durham scored a go-ahead TD on a 62-yard cross when he spun away from UT defenders who tried to strip the ball quite than sort out him.
UT answered with Hendon Hooker’s 13-yard TD cross to Cedric Tillman on fourth-and-goal to tie it at 38.
Purdue got here again with Aidan O’Connell’s 70-yard TD cross to Broc Thompson. O’Connell handed for a Music Metropolis Bowl report 534 yards and 5 TDs.
UT countered with Hooker’s 2-yard TD cross to Jalin Hyatt to tie it at 45 with 1:35 remaining. The Vols made a cease on protection and acquired the ball again for a closing drive, however Chase McGrath’s 56-yard area purpose was quick as time expired.
Hendon Hooker had record-setting bowl efficiency
Hooker, a Virginia Tech graduate switch, completed a memorable debut season with highlight-filled efficiency, particularly within the fourth quarter. He was 26-of-41 for 378 yards and 5 TDs, a UT bowl report. He additionally rushed for 56 yards.
Hooker tossed a TD cross for a twelfth consecutive sport, matching Casey Clausen (2001-02) for the third longest in class historical past. He might cross Tony Robinson (13 in 1984-85) and Heath Shuler (18 in 1992-94) for the report subsequent season.
Regardless of beginning solely 11 video games, Hooker completed tied for second with Erik Ainge (2007) on UT’s single-season record with 31 TD passes. He trails solely Peyton Manning (36 in 1997).
And Joshua Dobbs is the one quarterback in UT historical past to hurry for extra yards than Hooker in a season. Dobbs ran for 831 yards in 2016 and 671 yards in 2015. Hooker completed with 617 speeding yards.
Cedric Tillman prolonged TD streak, after which some
Tillman turned the primary participant in UT historical past to catch a TD cross in seven consecutive video games. For good measure, he caught three TDs — a 41-yarder and 61-yarder within the first quarter and a 13-yarder within the fourth.
Tillman additionally turned the ninth 1,000-yard receiver in UT single-season historical past and the primary since Justin Hunter in 2012. He completed with seven receptions for 150 yards and three TDs.
Tillman’s 12 TD receptions place him second on UT’s single-season record in TD catches. Marcus Nash holds the report with 13 TD catches in 1997.
Jeremy Banks, protection made performs when offense sputtered
UT’s offense had hits and misses. Throughout the latter, its protection got here up with large performs to maintain Purdue at bay.
Kamal Hadden, Byron Younger and Trevon Flowers intercepted O’Connell. And linebacker Jeremy Banks broke the Music Metropolis Bowl report with a career-high 20 tackles, together with two for loss.
Bowl win streak snapped simply shy of report
UT’s streak of consecutive bowls wins was snapped at 4, which included the 2014 Gator Bowl, 2015 Outback Bowl, 2016 Music Metropolis Bowl and 2019 Gator Bowl.
The Vols completed one victory shy of their longest bowl profitable streak of 5, which spanned from 1986-91. UT’s all-time bowl report dropped to 29-24, which ranks seventh amongst faculty soccer applications. Solely Alabama (43) and Georgia (33) have extra bowl wins amongst SEC groups.
Vols got here out sturdy to begin, once more
UT’s season-long onslaught within the first quarter held up. The Vols outscored opponents 190-51 within the first quarter. They led 11 of 13 opponents by one quarter, even Georgia and Alabama.
UT jumped forward of Purdue, 21-7, within the first quarter on Hooker’s two TD passes to Tillman and Jabari Small’s 2-yard TD run.
And Hadden stopped Purdue with an interception in the long run zone. Hadden made his second begin by filling in for Alontae Taylor, who opted out of the sport to recuperate from a foot damage and put together for the Senior Bowl.
The primary quarter was the one quarter by which Purdue was outscored this season. However the Boilermakers rallied within the second quarter, outscoring UT 16-0 for a 23-21 halftime lead.
UT misplaced lead in lower than a minute
The sport quickly flipped on a disastrous sequence for UT simply earlier than halftime. The Vols led 21-13 with simply over a minute remaining.
Fineran made a 29-yard area purpose. And on the second play of UT’s ensuing possession, Hooker was hit whereas making an attempt to try a cross. His arm wasn’t transferring ahead, so it was dominated a fumble and Purdue recovered with 29 seconds left.
Two performs later, O’Connell hit Durham on a 2-yard TD cross with 19 seconds remaining to place Purdue forward 23-21. In lower than a minute of sport clock, Purdue turned an 8-point deficit right into a 2-point lead at halftime.
Attain Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.
This text initially appeared on Knoxville Information Sentinel: Tennessee falls to Purdue in OT with controversial Music Metropolis Bowl ending
