Lane Kiffin finally has a winning streak. An emphatic one, at that.Tennessee overpowered Memphis 56-28 Saturday night before a homecoming crowd of 94,636.
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.
Following a dominating win over South Carolina a week earlier, Tennessee showed no sign of a letdown, marching for touchdowns on six of seven first-half possessions.
The Vols will try to make it three wins in a row when they return to SEC action at Ole Miss on Saturday.
Memphis (2-7) remains winless in Knoxville in 12 tries and clings to its 1996 upset as the only victory in 21 tries against the Vols.
Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton 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 for the night, 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 Vols were aggressive at every turn in the first half and Memphis offered little resistance.
The tone was set when 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:
Tennessee, 35 points.
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 on 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 up the baton.
Following a three-and-out start, Stephens found a groove and led a scoring drive that ended with a 14-yard completion to Moore.
That ended the third quarter scoring at 56-21.
Offensively, the Tigers had virtually no luck against Tennessee’s first-string defense.
The three second-half scoring drives were mounted against UT’s reserves.
Curtis Steele 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.
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