Oklahoma vs Tennessee: The Significance of a Yard

“We’ve got to make one more play than they do”.

The Sooners have had the Volunteers’ number as of late.

Seal it with a pick: Oklahoma opened double overtime with a touchdown on offense and forced Tennessee to do the same on its possession.

Yet it was Tennessee that looked more poised for much of the night, delighting a raucous sellout Neyland Stadium crowd of 102,455 – the largest group ever to watch an Oklahoma game.

Fortunately for the 10,000-plus Sooner faithful in attendance at the game and the tens of thousands of OU football fans viewing at home or wherever their lives took them on Saturday night, the halftime numbers were exactly that, just half the story in the game. Coming into this game it was expected that OU’s backfield would be the top story line as they are being talked about as being one the top tandem RBs and in some cases they were, just not what the Sooners were hoping for.

In control and up 17-3 entering the fourth quarter, the Vols were supremely confident. Mayfield insisted he never got frustrated.

Though the specifics were unique, the junior walk-on from Austin, Texas, always envisioned coming through for his beloved team with the game on the line. After another 3 and out by the Vols, the Sooners marched down the field for a 13 play, 60 yard drive that resulted in a Shepard TD grab in the back corner of the end zone.

Now, we can hypothesize all day about each scenario and the “what ifs”, but the fact that one yard – just 36 inches – had that much of an effect on the game gives merit to the phrase “football is a game of inches”.

Bob Stoops met with media members in Norman on Monday to field questions about his team’s gutsy road win against Tennessee and this weekend’s opponent, Tulsa. Dobbs was intercepted by Zack Sanchez in the bottom of the second overtime, clinching the biggest comeback by a visitor in Neyland Stadium history.

The Vols expect to encounter similar situations this season and believe now they’ll be better prepared to handle the moments where games are won and lost. And against SMU, he hauled in catches of 57 and 42 yards and had 178 total.

Both programs get a chance to make an early statement Saturday when the 23rd-ranked Volunteers (1-0) host No. 19 Oklahoma (1-0). Video for Oklahoma vs Tennessee Live Streaming▶.

Now we meet in week 2 with the Tennessee Volunteers against the Oklahoma Sooners. Meanwhile, the Sooners had consecutive scoring drives of 80 and 60 yards over the final 15 minutes of regulation. It marked the team’s first game under new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley and his Air Raid attack, which figures to help a team that was run-heavy last season. However, in the overtime session, Hurd gave Tennessee the lead back on a rushing touchdown.

Tennessee blew a 17-point lead at home and afterward Vols head coach Butch Jones took a personal shot at Oklahoma linebacker Eric Striker. That is a.654 winning percentage, which ranks third best in the nation over that period behind USC (.667) and Ohio State (.653).