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Cleveland Daily Banner—Monday, January 4, 2016—13
SportS
MONDAY
Richard Roberts
Sports Editor
Phone 472-5041 or fax 614-6529
[email protected]
Volunteers head into offseason with high hopes
(AP) — Tennessee certainly finished off the
season in style.
If the Volunteers start next season as well as
they closed their last two, they’ll really be
ready to make a move up the college football
ladder.
Tennessee ended the season with its first
six-game winning streak since 2003. The Vols
(9-4) started just five seniors Friday in their
45-6 Outback Bowl rout of No. 12
Northwestern. The streak and postseason win
gives them reason to believe they can enter the
2016 season as legitimate Southeastern
Conference title contenders.
“The sky’s the limit,” quarterback Joshua
Dobbs said.
Tennessee’s chances of contending for a
conference championship could depend on if it
AP photo does a better job of handling heightened expecTennessee quArTerbAck Joshua Dobbs (11) throws a pass tations. That proved to be a stumbling block at
as offensive lineman Dylan Wiesman (71) blocks Northwestern times in 2015.
defensive lineman Jordan Thompson (95) in the third quarter of the
The Vols opened this season ranked 25th —
their first Top 25 ranking since 2012 — after
Outback Bowl, in Tampa, Fla.
winning four of their last five games in 2014
and beating Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl. They
fell out of the poll by showing an early season
inability to preserve leads.
Tennessee led in each of its four defeats and
was up at least two touchdowns in losses to
Oklahoma, Florida and Arkansas. But just
when the season appeared ready to spiral out
of control, Tennessee regrouped.
The Vols were 2-3 before erasing a 21-point
deficit in a 38-31 victory over Georgia. They followed that game with a 19-14 setback at
Alabama in which they led the Crimson Tide in
the fourth quarter, but they wouldn’t lose
again.
“This football team defines resolve,”
Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “There
were a lot of individuals that wanted to bury
us. ... Actually, the adversity brought us closer
and closer together, united us.”
Tennessee’s most lopsided bowl victory in
school history could allow the Vols to finish the
season in the Top 25 for the first time since
2007. They’re ready to take an even bigger step
forward next season.
The Vols must replace the starting safety
duo of Brian Randolph and LaDarrell McNeil,
but they’ll have plenty of experience everywhere else. Tennessee’s only senior starters in
the Outback Bowl were Randolph, McNeil,
offensive tackle Kyler Kerbyson, wide receiver
Von Pearson and defensive tackle Owen
Williams.
The offense next season will have one of the
SEC’s most experienced quarterbacks in
Dobbs and an all-SEC candidate running back
in Jalen Hurd, the Outback Bowl MVP. Derek
Barnett will be back on defense after recording
10 sacks each of the last two seasons.
If they can avoid a repeat of this season’s
early struggles, the Vols could have more reason to celebrate next January.
“They can be back in Tampa again,”
Kerbyson said. “The (College Football Playoff
championship game) is in Tampa. I believe in
them 100 percent, that they can do it.”
Tennessee secures No. 1 pick with loss
Colts use backup plan to salvage
win over Titans in season finale
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Chuck
Pagano’s backup plan worked.
But the Colts didn’t get the help
they needed and failed to make
the playoffs.
Recently signed quarterbacks
Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley
each threw one touchdown pass
in the first half Sunday, and
Jerrell Freeman opened the sec-
ond half with a 23-yard interception return to give the Colts a
season-closing 30-24 victory
over Tennessee.
The Colts won a game to avoid
their first losing season since
2011. They just didn’t get
enough help to make the playoffs and now they’ll wait to find
out their coach’s fate.
Indy could have made the
playoffs with a Houston loss —
and if seven other games fell
exactly the right way.
Instead, the Texans’ 30-6 victory over Jacksonville ended
that hope and perhaps Pagano’s
tenure in Indy.
“To sit there and go 5-3 with
Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback
AP photo
Tennessee TiTAns running bAck David Cobb (23) scores a touchdown against the
Indianapolis Colts in the first half Sun F