LaMarcus Coker has been Tennessee's most efficient tailback all season.

In nine games, the redshirt freshman has rushed for 570 yards on 81 carries.

In a 39-10 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday, Coker tallied his third 100-yard game this season.

He's had runs of 87 and 89 yards for touchdowns.

"LaMarcus has the speed to run away or change the angles on defenders that makes him special," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said Sunday. "He's also a very physical back and can run for the tough yards as well. I think there's a lot of bright things ahead for LaMarcus."

When healthy, the Vols have used three tailbacks this season, and that won't change for Saturday's final regular-season game against Kentucky at 12:30 p.m. (TV: WVLT) in Neyland Stadium.

While Coker has the talent to be a feature back, Fulmer likes to use at least two tailbacks.

"The thing you do in this conference, as a running back especially, you've only got so many hits in you," Fulmer said. "You're going to have some bumps and bruises. It's a lot better, or at least we've found it is, to split time. It allows you to be fresh in the fourth quarter and allows you to have that extra gear late in the season because you haven't taken all those hits. We would like to always have a couple or three."

Coker, Montario Hardesty and Arian Foster have combined for 1,184 rushing yards this season.

Coker averages 7.0 yards per carry, more than 3 yards a carry better than either Foster or Hardesty.

Still, Coker has had more than 20 carries in a game just once this season, when rushed 26 times for 125 yards against Memphis on Sept. 30.

"In LaMarcus' case, if he were the only guy, he could carry it 20 times," Fulmer said. "I just don't know if he could carry it 20 times, five games in a row."

Scouting Report: Saturday's 42-40 victory over Louisiana-Monroe was probably a pretty good indicator, but Kentucky's strength this season has not been its defense.

The Wildcats rank 12th in the SEC in total defense (468.7 yards a game), rushing defense (197.5 yards a game), pass efficiency defense (144.8 opponent passer rating) and scoring defense (30.2 points a game).

Not only that, Kentucky doesn't crack the top 100 in the nation in any of those categories, either.

The Wildcats (7-4, 4-3 SEC) do boast the league's best passing offense, which averages 273.3 yards a game.

Quarterback Andre Woodson leads the SEC in total offense (256.9 yards a game) and is third in the SEC in passing efficiency.

Official Words: Following Saturday's victory over Vandy, Fulmer said he was more vocal with officials because he felt several calls had been missed this season.

"I don't think I'll get fined for this, but I think we've got to look hard at our conference with our officiating," Fulmer said. "There was two or three things that -- I'm not going to call anybody out particularly -- just hadn't happened right."

Fulmer pointed to a pair of plays in particular, one in a win over South Carolina and one in a loss to LSU, as examples.

Fulmer said he believed LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell fumbled late in the Tigers' game-winning drive in Knoxville.

He also said the Vols were not lined up incorrectly on a punt against South Carolina. Tennessee recovered a fumbled return at the Gamecocks' 14, but the play was nullified by a penalty for not having enough men on the line of scrimmage. The Vols had to kick again.

Poll Watching: Tennessee moved up three spots to No. 19 in the Associated Press poll and two spots to No. 21 in the coaches' poll.

The Vols (8-3) are ranked 20th in the BCS standings.

Injury report: Fulmer said linebacker Jerod Mayo (knee) underwent an MRI on Saturday but would not know more about the severity of his injury until today.

Mayo, who was injured late in the first quarter, left Vanderbilt Stadium on crutches.

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.