Tennessee coasts to 45-23 win over Cincinnati

Tyler Bray threw for a career-high 405 yards, passed for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth score as Tennessee cruised to a 45-23 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Bray completed 34 of 41 passes and bettered his previous career high of 354 yards as the Volunteers (2-0) got their first win over a nonconference BCS opponent in six tries. Da’Rick Rogers caught two of the touchdown passes and had 100 yards receiving, and Justin Hunter added 156 yards receiving and a score. Isaiah Pead led the Bearcats (1-1) with 155 yards rushing, DJ Woods had 111 yards receiving and Zach Collaros was 21 for 34 for 230 yards. Both teams scored touchdowns on their first two drives. Bray found Rogers by himself on one side of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Vols a 21-14 lead with 13:20 left before halftime that they wouldn’t relinquish. The pass, Bray’s second TD throw of the game, marked the eighth consecutive game the sophomore has thrown multiple scoring strikes, eclipsing Peyton Manning’s team record of seven games set in 1997.

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley reached into his bag of tricks early in the game to keep pace with the Bearcats. Tennessee had answered a 65-yard touchdown run by Pead with a seven-play drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Marlin Lane. Palardy attempted—and recovered—an onside kick, and the Vols scored five plays later on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Bray to Hunter.

But Dooley was still disappointed with the Vols’ two turnovers on fumbles, the second which led to Cincinnati’s final touchdown, a 4-yard pass from Collaros to Anthony McClung with 8:46 left in the game.