COMMENTARY: Three reasons why Tennessee football imploded against South Carolina

Losing to Texas hurt a lot less.

When Tennessee came up empty on a last-gasp Hail Mary against the Longhorns, that was necessitated because an inexperienced quarterback had a mistake that retreated the Vols from field goal range, it felt like they had a chance they probably shouldn’t have had.

Saturday was different. Losing 27-24 to South Carolina on a walk-off 48-yard field goal was a big one that got away.

It’s easy to blame three specific areas: 12 penalties for 90 yards that negated three passing touchdowns and ultimately cost Tennessee 11 points was one; quarterback George MacIntyre’s two gaffes with the game on the line — totally botching the fourth-and-one play late in the game that set the Gamecocks up for the game-tying TD — was the second; and spotting South Carolina a 14-0 lead from the get-go was the third.

— The costly penalties weren’t necessarily penalties of aggression. One was an illegal shift. Another was an ineligible receiver downfield. The third was a holding call.

Eight games into the season, even the young guys shouldn’t be making the mental mistakes like the illegal shift and ineligible receiver downfield. 

Tennessee recovered from the first penalty to ultimately score a touchdown, so that was able to soften the blow from the goof. A field goal made the second one sting, changing seven points for three. But, missing seven altogether on the third allowed the Gamecocks to have a chance at the end.

— Enhancing the opportunity that South Carolina capitalized on were the mistakes committed by MacIntyre. 

The first one, on fourth-and-one near midfield with less than 4 minutes left in the game, can’t be forgiven. He ran the same play, an inside handoff to DaSaahn Brame, that went smoothly for a touchdown. 

No excuse for him to be flabbergasted with the call. The play went south before it started and MacIntyre crumbled in a heap for lost yards.

Then, left tackle David Spencer, Jr., picked the last 40 seconds of the game to get whipped by Dylan Stewart. Stewart broke free and hit MacIntyre before he got the ball out on a pass attempt. It was correctly ruled a fumble at the most inopportune time and set up the Gamecocks for the win.

— The 14-0 immediate deficit is often overlooked because the Vols tied it up just as quickly. Credit the initial lapse to the hangover from the win over Alabama. Had Tennessee come out as aggressive as it did against the Crimson Tide, that never would have happened. 

Without that early deficit, the tone of the game is completely different.