With eight minutes on the clock, Tennessee football got the ball back, and the Joey Aguilar-led offense returned to the field down a touchdown at Mississippi State. The Vols’ defense was just gashed, and a touchdown to tie it on this drive felt necessary, or the game would slip away.
After moving the chains on the first toss to Chris Brazzell, Tennessee’s offense began to stall. Two short rushes and a one-yard completion to Mike Matthews set up fourth-and-four at the Bulldogs’ 47-yard line with just over five minutes left on the clock.
Josh Heupel kept the offense on the field in a play that could easily have been the difference. A converted first down and the game stays alive. A missed opportunity, and the MSU offense has the ball at midfield with the chance to put the game away.
The result ended up being an incredible play between Aguilar and Brazzell. Aguilar drifted slightly right in the pocket to try to get an angle to find Brazzell over the middle. However, an MSU pass rusher could get a hand up right in the path that Aguilar would have wanted to deliver the ball. To adjust, he went to a more sidearm angle while off platform.
The ball came in just behind Brazzell, but was about as good a throw as possible given the circumstances. Brazzell adjusted in the air and came down with the strong catch to continue his monster day.
Just an insane throw from Joey Aguilar on fourth down late in the fourth… pic.twitter.com/ivW7M7Qj8x
— Ryan Sylvia (@RyanTSylvia) September 28, 2025
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Tennessee would finish the drive, featuring backup right tackle David Sanders Jr. in his first collegiate drive of his career, with a touchdown. Aguilar punched it in on a quarterback power to Sanders’ side with two tight ends and a running back blocking for him.
UT’s defense came up strong to force a three-and-out, but Tennessee couldn’t take advantage of the little clock remaining to score at the end of regulation. This sent the game to overtime. Desean Bishop scored on a rush on the first play of the extra period, and Max Gilbert hit on the extra point. The Vols’ defense held strong again afterward to clinch the game on a fourth-down stop just short of the goalline.
Aguilar finished completing 24-of-40 passes for 355 yards, a touchdown and two picks. His stat line could’ve looked a lot better, too, but a great throw to Matthews was dropped on a bomb and a touchdown to Brazzell was called back due to a weak pass interference call. He also rushed in for a score.
Brazzell finished with six catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
