Vanderbilt mustered another good fight in Neyland Stadium. Tennessee scored another knockout.Jonathan Crompton threw two touchdown passes and the Vols secured their important sixth win with a 31-16 victory over the Commodores on Saturday night.
It was Tennessee’s fourth consecutive win over Vanderbilt, which slipped to 1-26 in the series since 1983.
Related
The Vols reached the end zone twice in the final 3:16 of the first half to build a 24-10 lead and survived a sloppy second half before an announced crowd of 100,124 on Senior Day.
It got interesting late when Vanderbilt, trailing 24-13, quickly marched from its 27 to the Vols 2 after a Tennessee pass-interference penalty erased a Dennis Rogan interception in the end zone.
But with a first down on the goal line’s doorstep, the Commodores backed up instead of going forward. A false start and a sack left Vanderbilt with Ryan Fowler’s third field goal of the night at the 2:54 mark.
Tennessee’s Bryce Brown recovered the ensuing onsides, and tailback Montario Hardesty (32 carries, career-high 171 yards) picked up a first down to run the clock down to 26 seconds before Vanderbilt took over on downs.
Vols senior defensive tackle Wes Brown then sealed the outcome with some Rocky Top fireworks, intercepting a Mackenzi Adams pass and returning it 25 yards for a touchdown with three seconds left. Brown was mobbed by his teammates after dragging a Vanderbilt player into the end zone.
Vanderbilt ended its season on an eight-game losing streak. A year after going 4-4 in the SEC en route to the team’s first bowl game in 26 years, the Commodores quietly limped through the conference winless.
Tennessee won’t have to agonize over bowl eligibility when it heads to Kentucky next Saturday, but rather how impressive its bowl résumé will look. The Vols haven’t missed out on a bowl in consecutive seasons since 1977-78.
No comments:
Post a Comment