Gerald Riggs made a push for the role as Tennessee's featured running back last Saturday during the Vols' 19-14 victory at Georgia.

Riggs, a junior, had 26 carries for 102 yards, patiently following his blocks and finding holes.

It was his second 100-yard game of the season.

Was it good enough to get him 26 carries again Saturday against Mississippi?

Maybe.

"It wasn't given to him," Vols running backs coach Trooper Taylor said Tuesday. "It's something he has earned, and in the future I see him getting more (carries), or as many, for sure, but obviously that could change based off practice because I don't ever want them to get in a comfort zone.

"I want them to understand that there's always going to be competition."

Riggs understands.

Cedric Houston, a 2,000-yard rusher at Tennessee, started against Georgia. He and Riggs are listed as possible starters for Ole Miss.

Riggs isn't proclaiming himself the featured back.

"I think that I've showed that given those touches I can do some things with it," Riggs said. "Now for me to sit here and say I've made my case to be 'the guy,' I don't know.

"In my mind that's a little bit of a stretch because any particular day I can be on and Ced (Houston) can be off, I can off, Ced can be on, Jabari (Davis) could be on, and both me and Ced could be off."

Riggs, who rushed for 116 yards on 16 carries against Louisiana Tech, said he felt good the first time he touched the football Saturday.

It was on the eighth play of Vols' opening drive. He gained 1 yard.

"Like I've said before, sometimes you get into a rhythm early and sometimes it takes maybe a half before you get into a rhythm, and this past Saturday I think for me it felt like the first time I touched the ball, even though I didn't get that many yards, I felt like I was ready to go and I was going to do some pretty big things during the game," Riggs said.

"It felt good to get out there and get that many touches and obviously to get 100 yards against a team like that in that situation."

Riggs gained 11 yards on the first play of the Vols' next possession. He also had runs of 9 and 8 yards on the drive.

"I think during that game, early in the game, I was hot carrying the ball," he said. "I think like my third run and a few runs after that I was getting first downs and 5 and 6 yards, so they all say when the guy's hot we're going to continue to roll with him, and I think I was hot during the game and that's why I got that many carries throughout the game.

"But like I said before, it depends who's hot. If Cedric's hot one day, he'll probably end up getting 26 carries during the game, same for Jabari."

Riggs' longest run against Georgia was a 14-yarder to the Bulldogs' 4, setting up Erik Ainge's touchdown pass to Chris Hannon.

Riggs' biggest snafu: a fumble early in the second half. Riggs said he thought he was down.

"But still, there's a few more things I could have done better," he said. "I could have still held onto the ball and gotten up and given the ball to the official so there's no question."

Riggs said patience has helped him in recent games.

"Sometimes you've just got to let the game come to you and more times than not that's how it's going to be," he said. "The last couple of games I've been able to do that. I've just been patient running the ball and doing everything that I've been asked to do and not forced the issue, and that's helped a lot."

Houston, who rushed for 28 yards on 16 carries Saturday, has 393 rushing yards and two touchdowns this season. He is averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

Riggs has rushed for 403 yards and one touchdown, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.

Will Riggs continue getting carries like he did Saturday?

"I don't know," Riggs said. "That's just something that Trooper and coach (Phillip) Fulmer and coach (Randy) Sanders will decide over the course of the game."