Tennessee sophomore quarterback Josh Dobbs is receiving national praise, and several awards, for his clutch performance against South Carolina. Making his first start of the year, Dobbs went 23-40 for 301 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball 24 times for 166 yards and three touchdowns. His 467 total yards were the most by a Vol quarterback against an SEC opponent since Peyton Manning threw for over 500 yards against Kentucky in 1997. Dobbs’ 166 rushing yards set a new school record for quarterbacks.
Perhaps even more impressive, he was at his best when the Vols were in desperate need of a score. When Tennessee got the ball trailing by two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, Dobbs simply reached another level. On the last two drives of regulation he went 10-15 for 130 yards and a touchdown through the air and added a rushing touchdown. His touchdown pass to Jason Croom with 11 seconds to play sent the game to overtime.
Athlon Sports named Josh Dobbs the National Player of the Week. SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy, a former Alabama quarterback, tabbed Dobbs as his player of the week and numerous journalists and athletes around the nation joined in the chorus of praise for Tennessee’s young signal caller – here’s a sampling.
#SECHonors: #SEC Offensive Player of the Week: Josh Dobbs of @Vol_Football: pic.twitter.com/iZYwvfDlbe
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 4, 2014
Joshua Dobbs! Has a star been born tonight?
— Greg McElroy (@GregMcElroy) November 2, 2014
Josh Dobbs: 470 yards of total offense and 5 TDs on the road in the SEC. #Vols future just got even brighter.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 2, 2014
Clutch performance for Tenn QB Josh Dobbs in 45-42 OT win:
• 23/40 301 yds 2 TDs
• 24 rush 166 yds 3 TDs#TENNvsSC pic.twitter.com/gqbFlOzNcA— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 2, 2014
Rocky Topped in OT!@Vol_Football wins their 1st #SEC game of 2014. Josh Dobbs: 304 pass yds, 166 rush yds, 5 TDs. pic.twitter.com/zVUxPc20GC
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 2, 2014
ESPN dropped the ball with their impact performances by leaving out Josh Dobbs. His numbers were way better than the 4 they mentioned.
— AllforTennessee.com (@allfortennessee) November 2, 2014
Oh Joshua Dobbs. That was beautiful.
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) November 2, 2014
Love the comments by Dobbs.. Told his team "However many points the other team scores we will score more" Carry the team young man!! #VFL
— Robert E. Ayers Jr (@1_900_ayersjr) November 2, 2014
Very impressed with Josh Dobbs the past 2 weeks. His run-pass skills are a good fit for #Vols scheme. Quite a development for UT.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 2, 2014
This is an incredible comeback win for Tennessee. Give Josh Dobbs all of the game balls. Butch is 2-0 vs Spurrier.
— Patrick Schmidt (@PatrickASchmidt) November 2, 2014
.@BuckyBrooks: #Vols QB Josh Dobbs an emerging superstar. http://t.co/e77uegI1Go pic.twitter.com/eEoyw4EaEn
— NFL Draft (@NFLDraft) November 3, 2014
