KNOXVILLE, Tenn. _ It counts as a win.
Nothing else about the opener to Tennessee's highly anticipated football season Thursday night went according to plan.
The No. 9 Vols (1-0) escaped a monumental upset, rallying to beat Appalachian State, 20-13, in overtime before a crowd of 100,074 at Neyland Stadium.
The winning score came when Jalen Hurd recovered a Joshua Dobbs' fumble in the end zone in the first overtime.
Tennessee trailed 13-6 after three quarters as the Mountaineers (0-1) from the Sun Belt Conference held the UT offense to a pair of Aaron Medley field goals.
Finally, the Vols' offense found the big play that been missing all night. Dobbs connected with Josh Malone on a 67-yard touchdown pass with 10:30 to play, tying the score, 13-13.
The Mountaineers missed a 42-yard field goal try with 5:24 left but Tennessee couldn't take advantage.
The Vols got the ball first in overtime. On third-and-goal at the 2, Dobbs carried and fumbled as he stretched the ball toward the goal line. Hurd recovered in the end zone.
The Mountaineers then had a chance to tie but the Vols broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Appalachian State forged a 13-3 halftime lead, aided by three Tennessee mistakes.
All three mistakes were by senior leaders _ Cameron Sutton, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Dobbs.
Sutton fumbled trying to field App State's first punt of the game. The Mountaineers recovered at the UT 36 and scored five plays later on a quarterback keeper by Taylor Lamb.
Before the first quarter was up, the Vols lost their top linebacker, Reeves-Maybin, on a targeting penalty covering a punt return. The penalty, which was reviewed, carries automatic disqualification.
Tennessee's offense managed only one sustained drive in the first half and even that failed to reach the end zone.
After a Dobbs pass to Preston Williams in the back of the end zone was ruled incomplete, Medley kicked a 23-yard field goal.
The only score of the second quarter was a 33-yard pass from Lamb to Cox that put Appalachian State up, 13-3. The extra-point kick missed, which would prove significant.
A poorly thrown Dobbs pass was intercepted just before the half to snuff a mild threat and preserve the 10-point margin.
Medley connected from 39 yards in the third quarter, leaving it a 13-6 game entering the fourth quarter.
