Nearly 62,000 people attended the 75th TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Thursday night at TIAA Bank Field and witnessed, in person, what is being regarded as one of the most dramatic in the history of the nation’s sixth-oldest post-season game.
The first half was a simply Rocky Slop, a snooze-fest, matching the second-lowest score at the break in the bowl season.
Tennessee trailed Indiana 22-9 but scored two touchdowns in a 30-second span, then held off the Hoosiers on two possessions in Volunteers territory to win the Gator Bowl 23-22 in front of 61,789 -- the majority of them orange-clad fans who helped the game post its largest attendance in nine years.
They were put through an emotional wringer by their team but that was nothing new this season. The Volunteers were 1-4, then 2-5, but won their last six games of the season -- with three of the last four coming on margins of four points or less.
Both teams ended the season 8-5. Tennessee is now 5-2 in the Gator Bowl after the closest finish 50 years.
The 1969 game ended with Florida edging Tennessee 14-13. Two other Gator Bowls also were decided by one point, both involving Florida -- 13-12 over Baylor in 1960 and 14-13 over Tulsa in 1953.
But in all three of those games, the Gators had an early lead and held on.
Tennessee’s was the biggest second-half comeback in the Gator Bowl since 2008 when Texas Tech scored the game’s last 17 points to beat Virginia 31-28.
According to ESPN’s Statistics and Info department, the Volunteers became the first FBS team this season to win after trailing by 13 or more points with five or less minutes remaining.
The team behind in those games were 0-471 before Tennessee worked its magic.
“What a fantastic game,” UT coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “It took 60 minutes. We scratched and clawed and fought to find a way.”
Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano (18 of 31, 221 yards), who was benched in the third quarter by Pruitt following an interception and 63-yard return for a touchdown by IU’s Jamar Johnson, pulled himself off the mat to complete 6 of 9 passes for 92 yards on UT’s final two scoring drives.
He hit five passes in a row for 69 yards to lead a march that ended with Quavaris Crouch’s 1-yard TD plunge with 4:21 left to cut the Hoosiers lead to 22-16.
After an onside kick attempt that caught Indiana (8-5) off guard, freshman running back Eric Gray (84 yards rushing, two receptions for 34 yards) pounced on the ball at the Indiana 46.
The Vols then scored in three plays, with Gray scoring from 16 yards out with 3:51 left and Brent Cimeglia breaking the tie with his conversion.
Gray was named the game’s most valuable player.
Guarantano, a redshirt junior who often has one foot in Pruitt’s doghouse, said getting pulled for Brian Maurer (who led the Vols to a field goal by Cimeglia) didn’t faze him.
“He [Pruitt] wanted me to come down a little,” said Guarantano, who was 11 of 19 for 130 yards in the first half. “I kept faith. I knew we had a game plan and that we would go out and execute.”
Pruitt said he once played for a high school basketball coach who would yank players who missed a shot, then failed to be the first one back on defense. He didn’t see much difference in taking out Guarantano.
“He didn’t play good,” Pruitt said. “I have confidence in him but nobody is entitled to anything. You have to earn it. It’s performance-based.”
And he performed when the Vols needed him most.
But it wasn’t over after Gray’s touchdown.
Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey (20 of 34, 227 yards) threw a 39-yard pass to Ty Fryfogle to the UT 36 on the first play after the UT kickoff but a sack by Tennessee linebacker Darrell Taylor eventually forced the Hoosiers to bring out Logan Justus for a 52-yard field goal attempt with 2:32 remaining.
The left-footed kicker hooked it right, adding that to his earlier miss of a conversion after Johnson’s interception return that eventually proved to be the difference.
The Hoosiers got one more chance on a Tennessee punt, starting at their own 19 with 55 seconds left. Ramsey completed a 24-yard pass to tight end Peyton Hendershot and a 12-yard to Nick Westbrook to the Tennessee 45 with 39 seconds left.
But he threw four incompletions in a row, the last one a woefully short pass intended for Whop Philyor.
“Very, very disappointing,” Indiana coach Tom Allen said. “I’m not going to sit here and point fingers. You have to finish the game. We had a chance to put the game away in all three phases.”
Tennessee had a 6-0 lead on field goals of 23 and 32 yards by Cimeglia in the second quarter, but that was all the Volunteers could muster after reaching the IU 13-, 13- and 6-yard lines in the first half.
Indiana finally got on the boards when Justus kicked a 24-yard field on the final play of the first half after Micah McFadden intercepted Guarantano when Cam Jones blasted the UT quarterback on a blitz.
Ramsey then hit a groove after halftime. He completed 4 of 4 passes for 37 yards and ran four times for 30 yards to lead a 12-play, 69-yard drive that ended in his 1-yard TD plunge and gave IU a 10-6 lead.
UT wasted a 47-yard kickoff return by Ty Chandler when Johnson picked off Guarantano and scored to make it 16-6.
Cimeglia cut the lead to 16-9 with a 43-yard field goal but the Justus seemed to put the game out of reach when he nailed field goals of 49 yards late in the third quarter and 30 yards with 10:27 left in the game.
