A streak to brag about: UT 56, Memphis 28

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

Tennessee cornerback Eric Berry (14) intercepts a pass from Memphis quarterback Will Hudgens (7) and is one interception and 8 yards away from breaking an NCAA record on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 at Neyland Stadium.

Lane Kiffin finally has a winning streak. An emphatic one at that.

Tennessee overwhelmed Memphis 56-28 Saturday night before a Neyland Stadium homecoming crowd of 94,636 to put together back-to-back wins for the first time under its first-year head coach.

The final score was deceptive. The Vols (5-4) led 42-7 at the half and Kiffin pulled most of his starters early in the third quarter.

A week ago, Tennessee wore black jerseys in a dominating win over South Carolina.

For Memphis (2-7), the Vols were back in orange. But they were in a black-hearted mood, at least for the first half when they took no prisoners.

Tennessee scored on six of seven first-half possessions, gambled on fourth down three times and even attempted an onside kick.

“We talked about that all week,’’ Kiffin said. “We had to make sure (the players) felt the coaches being aggressive so we didn’t come out and have a letdown after a big game last week.

“We wanted to make a statement that we’ll come out and play well no matter who the opponent is.’’

The next opponent is Ole Miss. The Vols will try to make it three wins in a row when they visit the Rebels on Saturday.

Memphis remains winless in Knoxville in 12 tries and clings to its 1996 upset as the only victory in 22 meetings with the Vols.

The Tigers finished with 403 yards of offense but only 104 came in the first half — and 88 of that on a TD drive just before the half.

“Our front-line guys played a great game,’’ Kiffin said.

“I’m a little down after the game because we didn’t finish well. It doesn’t matter who’s in there.’’

Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton certainly played well. He had a career game — almost a career game in half a game.

Crompton threw four touchdown passes in the first half and returned for the first possession of the third quarter to throw a fifth.

At 49-7, Crompton was done, with a career-high 331 passing yards on 21-of-27. His five TD passes matched his career-high from the Western Kentucky game.

The tone was set when freshman David Oku returned the opening kickoff 69 yards to the Memphis 24. Two minutes later Bryce Brown was plunging into the end zone and the rout was on.

At one point in the second quarter the carnage was:

n Tennessee, 35 points.

n Memphis, one first down.

The only first-half possession on which UT didn’t score came when Memphis stopped Montario Hardesty on fourth-and-2 with the score 14-0.

A minor inconvenience. The beatdown resumed on the next drive.

Crompton’s four first-half TD passes were distributed among four receivers — 17 yards to Gerald Jones, 23 yards to Luke Stocker, 4 yards to Quintin Hancock and 14 yards to Nu’Keese Richardson.

Eric Berry even worked in an interception, his second of the season.

The crowd was breathless for a long return but the Tigers tackled Berry after 8 yards, leaving him still 7 short of the NCAA career interception-return-yardage record.

Kiffin kept his foot on the gas. He gambled on fourth down three times in the half, including once at Tennessee’s 35 with a 14-0 lead.

That was shortly after attempting an onsides kickoff after the second touchdown.

Art Evans recovered — thanks to a head start. Evans was offsides and the Vols had to re-kick.

When no one expected it, Memphis, down 35-0, abruptly awoke for a hurry-up scoring drive late in the half.

Marcus Hightower’s first career carry was a 36-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds left in the half.

That was just enough time for Crompton to hit three quick completions and then dive in from the 1 to make it 42-7 with 4 seconds to spare.

After Crompton and Denarius Moore hooked up to open the second-half scoring on a 16-yard touchdown, Nick Stephens took over.

Following a three-and-out start, Stephens led a scoring drive that ended with a 14-yard completion to Moore and UT led 56-21 as the fourth quarter began.

Offensively, the Tigers had virtually no luck against Tennessee’s first-string defense.

Their second touchdown, which came in the third quarter, was against a mixture of UT starters and reserves.

The third and fourth were exclusively against reserves.

Curtis Steele, who rushed for 144 yards, scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards. Quarterback Will Hudgens scored from the 1 to make it 56-28 with 11:36 to play.

The Tigers dodged a late Tennessee score by intercepting Stephens at the Memphis 4.

UT dodged a late Memphis score when cornerback C.J. Fleming made an open-field tackle at the Tennessee 8 on third down and broke up a fourth-and-7 pass in the end zone with 2:01 on the clock.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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