Kirk Herbstreit didn’t linger long on Tennessee’s 27-24 loss at South Carolina, but he still hit the main beats: the Gamecocks’ surge, the Vols’ frustration, and the officiating that became part of the conversation.
On Monday’s episode of the Nonstop College Football podcast, Herbstreit and Joey Galloway touched on several of the week’s major upsets. Tennessee-South Carolina wasn’t the centerpiece of the segment, yet Herbstreit made clear he saw a game that swung on more than just the final score.
“Here comes Tennessee, 11th in the country, going up against South Carolina,” Herbstreit said. “And South Carolina, they were ready to fire Shane Beamer.
Literally, I mean, he was doing interviews and getting edgy and getting a little bit perturbed. And I don’t blame him.
They knock off Florida to stop the bleeding, and they back it up with a win against Tennessee.”
The Vols, meanwhile, left Columbia with plenty to stew on after South Carolina scored 10 points in the final 77 seconds. Tennessee fell to 6-2, and Herbstreit said the missed chances and disputed calls made it a particularly bitter finish.
“And now they’re feeling a lot better about themselves, whereas Tennessee, they’re sitting there now at 6-2, and they’ve got to be kicking themselves because that was a game very easily - and you could talk about the officiating,” Herbstreit said. “There were a couple calls there that were very, very questionable.
Big pass plays that MacIntyre hit downfield for touchdowns that were called back. So a tough loss all the way around, but at the end of the day, they lost.
They’re 6-2.”
Those penalties were the flash point after the game. Tennessee was flagged 12 times for 90 yards, with some fans putting the blame on the Vols and others arguing the officials took too much control of the night. The calls hit at crucial moments, including three Tennessee touchdown passes that were wiped out.
One of those drives still ended with a touchdown, another was settled with a field goal, and the middle one stalled out and finished with a punt. Tennessee’s penalties broke down to six on offense, four on defense and two on special teams, with seven coming in the final two quarters.
Afterward, Josh Heupel pointed directly to the details that can wreck a drive before it ever gets going.
“Well, everybody’s gotta take ownership of alignment, assignment, and it starts there, and then technique,” Josh Heupel said after the game. “Holding call out on the perimeter at the end, knew that this crew called it tight out on the perimeter, too. And so, it’s everybody taking ownership of it.”
Heupel also said the flags changed the rhythm of the offense.
“It changes the way the game’s played,” Heupel said about the difficulty of playing consistent offensive football when getting set back from penalties. “You look at the first series of the game.
You’re in third and six instead of third and one. But there’s so many things throughout the course of the game that change it.
And some of it is penalties, some of it is assignment sound. We gotta continue to grow, and we gotta grow fast offensively.”
Even with all the stoppages and setbacks, Tennessee still had a chance late in the fourth quarter. But the bigger story out of the game was how often the whistle interrupted the Vols at key moments, turning a road matchup with playoff implications into a loss that left plenty of regret behind.
No. 16 Tennessee is off this weekend and returns Nov. 7 for a 6:15 p.m.
ET game against No. 9 Kentucky at Neyland Stadium.
In Other News...
Tennessees Costly 4th-And-1 Breakdown Deserves A Closer Look
A late fourth-quarter fourth-and-1 turned into one of the defining plays of Tennessees night when George MacIntyre and the offense failed to execute the intended handoff, leaving the Volunteers with a loss of yards and a turnover on downs. It was the kind of breakdown that can swallow a close game whole, especially in a rivalry atmosphere where every possession already feels magnified.
Josh Heupel and MacIntyre both acknowledged it afterward as a misstep and a communication issue, a blunt admission that fits the tone of a frustrating finish. Tennessee still had a chance to close out the game before that snap, but the stalled drive opened the door for South Carolina to tie it and eventually pull away, making the missed assignment look even more costly in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Benefits After South Carolinas Costly Postgame Chaos
South Carolinas celebration after a game-winning field goal against Tennessee came with a hefty price tag, as the SEC issued a $500,000 fine for fans storming the field at Williams-Brice Stadium. It was the third field-storming penalty in the league this season, and the first under the SECs new flat-rate system, which replaced the previous escalating approach.
For Tennessee, the aftermath of a painful finish at least comes with a small bit of compensation. Under the leagues policy, the fine money will go to the visiting team affected by the violation, meaning the Volunteers will receive the proceeds from South Carolinas latest run-in with the SEC office. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Homecoming Just Got Trickier Than Vols Fans Expected
The SEC has set Tennessees homecoming date, and it comes with a familiar rival in an unfamiliar slot. The Volunteers will host Kentucky at Neyland Stadium on Nov. 7, with kickoff set for 6:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, adding another layer to a matchup that already carries plenty of history as the 122nd meeting between the programs.
Both teams will be rested after bye weeks, which only raises the intrigue for a game that has plenty riding on it. Tennessees defense has been one of the national stories under coordinator Jim Knowles, while Kentucky arrives at 7-1 in first-year coach Will Steins debut season, making this one far more complicated than a routine homecoming weekend. [Read more 🡒]