Late fumble dooms Tennessee in 27-24 loss to South Carolina on a final-play field goal

No. 11 Tennessee let a late lead slip away on the road Saturday, losing 27-24 to South Carolina after the Gamecocks kicked the winning field goal on the final play. The Volunteers led by seven points late in the fourth quarter before South Carolina drove to tie the game at 24, setting up a frantic finish at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Tennessee still had a chance to win it. The Vols had the ball late and were moving toward midfield, in position to set up a field goal of their own, when South Carolina's Dylan Stewart reached quarterback George MacIntyre and forced a fumble. That turnover flipped field position and momentum to the Gamecocks, who used it to set up the walk-off kick. VolQuest's Mike Wilson and Austin Price broke down the late collapse in their postgame two-minute drill.

The loss came with South Carolina fresh off a bye week, while Tennessee was coming off a 26-10 win over Alabama and now heads into its own bye. After the break, the Vols close the regular season in November with home games against Kentucky and LSU and road trips to Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. The defeat also adds a chapter to a series Tennessee still leads 27-11-2 dating back to 1903, though the teams had not met since Tennessee's 41-20 win at Neyland Stadium in 2023, and South Carolina won the previous game in Columbia, 63-38, in 2022.