For one play, Antonio Reynolds got to pretend he was his older brother.

He grew up watching Steve Reynolds play free safety a few years back at Youngstown State.

Against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, it was little brother Antonio making all the moves of a defensive back on his way to a 70-yard interception return. The only difference is Antonio is a 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive end for Tennessee.

UT's sideline went into a frenzy watching the big man juke his way to his first career TD and spark the Vols to a 59-7 romp past the Ragin Cajuns.

"That play probably burned more time than any other play," UT defensive coordinator John Chavis joked later. "It was almost like a two-minute drive, but I'm glad it happened the way it did.

"When you hustle and get in the right spots, plays like that will happen for you."

Reynolds was in the right spot.

He benefited from close coverage by DeAngelo Willingham and picked off a deflected pass intended for receiver Jason Chery. He rumbled down the right sideline and made a stop-and-go move to leave quarterback Michael Desormeaux grabbing at thin air. Reynolds did his best Reggie Bush impersonation and kept on rumbling to give the Vols a 24-0 lead going into halftime.

"Coach Chavis called a good defense and I saw the ball up in the air," Reynolds said. "We practice team pursuit every day and I just looked the ball into my hands and took off."

Chavis said Reynolds looked like a tight end when he first caught the ball and quickly slowed into a defensive end near the finish of his run.

It was UT's second interception return of the season, but Reynolds just took a little longer than Eric Berry did on his 96-yard return against Florida.

"I saw the guy coming from the left and I thought he was going to try and take my legs out," Reynolds said. "So I slowed down a little bit, made a little move, and kept on running.

"I guess it just came natural. I'm not sure how it happened."

The play definitely put a smile on the face of UT coach Phillip Fulmer.

"I didn't think he'd ever get there, but he made a nice move to make the guy miss and he showed his athletic ability," Fulmer said. "He's an old basketball player and at one time an outside linebacker.

"He knew what to do with it when he caught it and he ended up with a convoy catching up with him and taking him to the end zone. It was great to see the defense get a touchdown."

The talk all week had been about Desormeaux and an offense that ranked No. 7 in the nation in rushing offense. Desormeaux came into the game averaging 110 yards rushing and the Ragin' Cajuns averaged 242.5 yards on the ground per game. ULL still managed to put up some familiar numbers (364 yards of total offense, including 234 rushing on 48 attempts), but resulting points were scarce.

"We're kind of like a bend but don't break defense right now," UT linebacker Ryan Karl said. "We gave up a lot of yards but only seven points. We got turnovers when we needed them."

Karl had seven solo stops and finished tied with Rico McCoy for team-high tackles with eight apiece. Junior linebacker Ellix Wilson and freshman cornerback Dennis Rogan of Fulton High School had career highs with six tackles apiece.

The Vols - ranked 109th in the nation with an average of 4.63 tackles for loss - had six against ULL.

"We're getting closer to being the kind of defense we want to be at Tennessee," Chavis said. "We don't like giving up that yardage, but against a team like we played tonight you're going to give up some yardage.

"We're still growing to be an attacking defense. That's our style and that's who we're going to be."

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.