Tennessee just doesn't have very good luck in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Volunteers saw their playoff hopes come crashing down on the road against the Gamecocks in 2022, when they lost 63-28 and lost potential Heisman winner Hendon Hooker for the season with a torn ACL. Their trip to face South Carolina on the road for the first time since that game didn't go much better.
The Vols were stunned, falling 27-24 on a walk-off field goal after squandering a late lead. South Carolina managed to tie the game after a fourth-down stop, and though Tennessee was driving to potentially win the game, a George MacIntyre fumble allowed the Gamecocks to get in range to kick the game-winner.
The Gamecock social media team had a field day after the win, posting an edited clip from coach Josh Heupel's press conference earlier this week. Heupel said he had spoken to the team about what happened the last time it played in Columbia, over which South Carolina edited a Vietnam-style flashback sequence of Saturday's win.
Déjà vu? pic.twitter.com/4zfF7CabZ6
— South Carolina Football (@GamecockFB) October 24, 2026
Brutal stuff.
It's a loss the Volunteers couldn't afford. They already had a loss on the resume, which came at the hands of Texas at home earlier this season. Now, the margin for error is essentially gone if Tennessee wants to reach the CFP for the second time in three years.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: South Carolina trolled Josh Heupel after another Tennessee win