University of Tennessee Athletics
Dobbs' Four TDs No Trick
November 01, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Despite dominating the total yardage in the early going, Tennessee found itself down to Kentucky, 14-10, with 5:39 left in the second quarter.
As is often the case when the stat sheet numbers do not match up with the scoreboard numbers, the Vols continued to march forward. More specifically, Joshua Dobbs found another gear to seize the momentum and the game over the final stretch of the first half.
“We knew we could still move the ball and we had that attitude,” Dobbs said. “Guys were still confident, there was really no worry that we were going to be stopped, we just kept doing our thing.”
Dobbs finished the night 16-of-26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He ran seven times for 51 yards and two more scores. It was the third time in Dobbs’ career that he had multiple TDs rushing and passing in the same game, after South Carolina in 2014 and Georgia earlier this season.
Things started well for the Vol offense. At the end of the first quarter, Tennessee had outgained Kentucky 144-2. But the score read 7-7 thanks to a UK fumble return for a touchdown.
“I thought our team showed a lot of maturity on the road to have everything go against them,” head coach Butch Jones said. “To have a long drive and then give up seven points going the other way, but we responded with no panic.”
Dobbs broke tackle after tackle on a 28-yard touchdown run for the first Tennessee score of the game in the opening quarter.
But after some early struggles finding open receivers, the switch flipped after the UK score that put UT down 14-10. He went long down the far side of the field to hit Josh Malone in stride for a 75-yard touchdown. It was the longest play of Tennessee’s season thus far and the longest pass and catch of each player’s career.
“It was a shot play,” Dobbs said. “We got pressure to the boundary and we did a great job picking it up. I was able to find Malone over the top and he did everything else. It was a great spark play. They had just scored and we were able to come out and answer.”
Answer, they did. The seven points represented the first of 28 consecutive points for the Volunteers. After Kentucky punted on its next drive, Alvin Kamara burst up the near sideline for 63 yards to the 1-yard line. Dobbs took it in two plays later for his second rushing TD and a 24-14 halftime lead.
“We were finally able to manufacture some big plays which obviously helped us,” Jones said. “I thought Josh Dobbs did some very good things. I think he continues to get better and better.”
Dobbs hit Hurd for his second TD pass of the night on the opening drive of the second half. It came at the end of a 75-yard march down the field to send the message that the first-half flurry was no fluke.
“It was execution,” Dobbs said. “We were able to come out and pick up third downs to keep drives going. That was big, it got us in rhythm and got momentum behind us and then we were able to put up big numbers.”
Big numbers that finally matched on the scoreboard and the stat sheet.
“We spoke about the will to win and the focus of going on the road,” Jones said. “We heard all week long about it and we responded. I thought we came out and played a complete football game.”
