Where Tennessee landed in the polls after South Carolina loss

Tennessee dropped in the polls after an avoidable loss to South Carolina on Saturday in Columbia.

Oct 24, 2026; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) rolls back for a touchdown against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Saturday in Columbia, S.C., Tennessee football suffered a tough walk-off loss to South Carolina in a game heavily influenced by mistakes. South Carolina won 27-24 on a 48-yard Malik Orsan field goal as time expired. The Vols went from a team just outside the top 10 in the polls to No. 16.

The Vols overcame an early 14-0 deficit and went on a 21-3 run before halftime, but could not complete the mission. After the game, head coach Josh Heupel put ownership on everyone for the miscues that led to the result.

“Well, everybody’s got to take ownership of alignment and assignment, and it starts there, and then technique,” Heupel said. “A holding call out on the perimeter at the end. Knew that this crew called it tight out on the perimeter, too, so it’s everybody taking ownership of it.”

Tennessee committed 12 penalties for 90 yards, and three touchdowns were wiped off the board. An illegal shift erased a 35-yard score to DaSaahn Brame, an ineligible man downfield call negated a 48-yard touchdown pass to Mike Matthews, and a fourth-quarter holding call took away an 18-yard touchdown to Braylon Staley, forcing the Vols to settle for a field goal in a game they lost by three.

Oct 24, 2026; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback George MacIntyre (12) scrambles against South Carolina Gamecocks defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (99) during the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On top of the penalties, two late turnovers (one on downs) by George MacIntyre gave the Gamecocks all the life needed to steal the win. One was a miscommunication on a failed handoff attempt on fourth-and-1.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of moving parts of the play with kills and checks and what fronts they’re going to run,” MacIntyre said afterward. “But, yeah, it would have been similar to DaSaahn’s touchdown in the first half.”

The other was a strip sack by South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart, which gave the Gamecocks the ball to walk off the game.

“I’ll have to watch the film on that one,” MacIntyre said. “It was a quick game. I was looking left, not even sure what happened. I haven’t seen it on film yet, but obviously the pressure came from the right. We’ll watch it on film and evaluate what could have went different there.”

Those were more examples of how discipline and communication were just off at the most crucial times on Saturday. Now, Tennessee will head into the bye week before hosting Kentucky on Nov. 7.

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