TAMPA, Fla. — Sure, Tennessee scored just 21 points here Tuesday.

Yes, the running game was less than stellar in picking up 66 yards on 29 carries.

And maybe the offense didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in the second half.

But Tennessee still defeated Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl, and that’s enough of a sendoff for offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe and his star pupil.

“I wouldn’t feel very good otherwise,” said Cutcliffe, who will be behind the desk in his new office at Duke less than 48 hours after UT’s 21-17 New Year’s Day victory.

In the locker room following the game, Cutcliffe took a few minutes to remind Ainge of what the pair accomplished in just two years together.

The list is impressive considering where Tennessee’s offense was when Cutcliffe arrived.

Together, Ainge and Cutcliffe had their hands in 19 wins and an SEC East championship.

This year, Ainge threw for 31 touchdowns and more than 3,500 yards.

He set a school-record with 325 completions this season, a year after setting the Vols’ single-season completion percentage record at 67 percent.

And one game after throwing a pair of interceptions against LSU in the SEC championship game, Ainge threw for a career-high 365 yards against Wisconsin to earn Outback Bowl MVP honors.

“Sometimes it’s tough to be the quarterback,” Cutcliffe said. “Sometimes it’s awesome, everybody thinks you’re wonderful. All of a sudden you’re the biggest goat on earth.

“I didn’t want him to leave here with that taste in his mouth.”

Thanks to a productive day early — namely Ainge’s 6-of-6 passing for 112 yards during two second-quarter scoring drives — and some key third-down conversions in the second half, Cutcliffe and Ainge will leave Tennessee tasting victory.

After the LSU game, Ainge wanted to make sure he left Tennessee a winner.

“The way I played off Atlanta to myself is that I’ve still got another football game,” Ainge said. “To come out here and be as successful as we were today as a team and as an offensive team most of the game, that means a lot.”

It’s nearly impossible to measure how much Cutcliffe meant to Ainge.

The year before Cutcliffe arrived, Ainge was a blue-chip recruit who had begun to wilt.

In Tennessee’s 5-6 season in 2005, Ainge completed 66 of his 145 passes for 737 yards, threw seven interceptions and just five touchdowns in eight games.

Tuesday, Ainge put the final flourish on a season that showed just how far he came under Cutcliffe’s watch.

That relationship is reciprocal, too.

“A big challenge in our offense is to get a quarterback that really can gather it all in,” Cutcliffe said. “Erik Ainge mastered it in two years. He really mastered it in two years. I’m real proud of him for what he’s done.”

As Tennessee’s players filed off the field and into the tunnel to the locker room at Raymond James Stadium following the game, Cutcliffe took a moment to share his pride in his Tennessee players for the last time as their coach.

Those players, Cutcliffe said, are the reason he remained at UT for the last two weeks and stayed on to coach the offense for one final game after accepting the Duke job on Dec. 15.

For the second time, Cutcliffe will leave Tennessee to become a head coach elsewhere. He took the Ole Miss job after the 1998 season.

After 19 years as a coach in Knoxville, Cutcliffe will leave as an honorary letterman.

He’ll leave having played a key part in one of the most successful eras in Tennessee football.

And, after Tuesday, he’ll leave a winner.

“I came here 27 years old — 26 or 27 — a pretty young fella,” Cutcliffe said. “Now I’m 53 leaving. It’s been a big part of my life.

“I’m taking a lot in my heart with me, and nobody will ever take that away from me.”

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

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.