December 1, 2008
Kiffin is 'a perfect fit' for Vols.
The University of Tennessee's search for a new football coach is officially over less than a month after it began.
Former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin will be introduced as the Vols' head football coach during a 2 p.m. press conference today in Neyland Stadium's Wolf-Kaplan Center, UT announced Sunday evening.
"When it was all said and done, we felt like Lane Kiffin was a perfect fit for Tennessee," UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton said in a statement. "He's energetic, charismatic, consumed with recruiting and has had a lifelong love affair with football."
Kiffin has been credited with bringing an emphasis on national recruiting to USC and guided the Trojans to top-rated recruiting classes as their recruiting coordinator in 2005 and 2006.
In addition to Southern Cal, Kiffin spent time as an assistant coach with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, Colorado State and Fresno State, where he played quarterback 1994-96.
At 33, Kiffin becomes the youngest head coach in the SEC and the second-youngest in Tennessee history
Saturday, 10/07/06
Vols pile on the points.
UT rallies for 37 in second half vs. nation's top scoring defense.
Tennessee's football team gave new meaning to walking the dog Saturday night with a 51-33 trampling of Georgia before 92,746 at Sanford Stadium.
The Bulldogs, who entered the game with the No. 1 scoring defense in the country, were nothing more than a doormat for a Tennessee offense that exploded in the second half.
The Vols (5-1, 1-1 SEC) scored 37 points after the break, and that's after trailing 24-7 at one point in the first half. The 51 points are the most UT has ever scored against Georgia.
"That's what it's about, seeing our offensive line whipping their butts and Erik (Ainge) spreading it around to all of us," Tennessee senior receiver Bret Smith said. "When you're clicking like that, you're thinking you're going to make every play."
The 51 points were the most scored against a Mark Richt-coached Georgia team and the second-most ever at Sanford Stadium. Florida beat Georgia 52-17 in 1995.
Tennessee won for the second time in the last three years against Georgia and stayed alive in the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division race.
Sept 26 2005
Tennessee 30, LSU 27, OT
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Rick Clausen returned to LSU and refused to let Tennessee be part of the Tigers' feel-good story.
The LSU transfer led the Vols back from a three-touchdown deficit and Gerald Riggs Jr. pushed into the end zone from a yard out in overtime to give Tennessee a 30-27 win Monday night in LSU's long-awaited, hurricane-delayed home opener.
100% Cotton: UT turns in complete effort.
DALLAS : This was a bowl blowout Tennessee's football team will remember.
In a stirring reversal from Peach Bowl disasters each of the last two years, the Vols came out angry yesterday and played that way in a 38-7 battering of Texas A&M in the 69th Cotton Bowl Classic.
''Simple and plain, we were a (ticked-off) football team,'' senior linebacker Kevin Burnett said. ''That's the best way I can put it.''
The Vols (10-3) had been looking for a complete performance all season, and what they got was perhaps their most complete game since a 45-17 whipping of Michigan in the Citrus Bowl to end the 2001 season.
It was Tennessee's most lopsided victory in a bowl game in school history and Texas A&M's most lopsided loss in a bowl game.
The Vols overwhelmed the Aggies with their speed and forced five turnovers, two of which Tennessee converted into touchdowns while racing to a 28-0 halftime lead.
Other than the crowd of 75,704, which was decidedly cloaked in Texas A&M maroon, the Aggies were out-classed in every phase of the game.
TENNESSEE 10 MIAMI 6
MIAMI (AP) -- Tennessee knocked Miami out of the national
championship picture Saturday for the first time in four years.
Derrick Tinsley scored on fourth down and the No. 18 Volunteers upset
the sixth-ranked Hurricanes 10-6, ending the nation's longest home-
winning streak at 26 games.
The Hurricanes failed to score a touchdown at home for the first time
since 1984.
Davis Named SEC's Offensive Player of the Week
Tennessee's Jabari Davis was named the Southeastern Conference's
Offensive Player of the Week Monday following the Vols' 24-10 victory
at Florida.
Davis came off the bench to rush for a game-high 78 yards on 20
carries, including 74 yards and two touchdowns in the second half
replacing the injured Cedric Houston.
His first touchdown, a 1-yard run, gave the Vols a 17-3 third quarter
advantage. His second touchdown, a 9-yard run, gave the Vols the
final margin at 24-10.
The Vols' ground game, led by Davis, helped Tennessee amass a 20:06
to 9:54 edge in time of possession as the Vols outscored the Gators
17-7 in the second half. He carried for five first downs in the
second stanza.
Davis also won the league's weekly award last season, following a 135-
yard effort against Arkansas in the Vols' 41-38 overtime victory over
Arkansas.
Vols defeat Gators 34-32 for SEC East
GAINESVILLE, Fla. One title could lead to another. And
perhaps another.
Tennessee, cast in the unfamiliar role of double-digit underdog Saturday, shocked No. 2 Florida 34-32 to win the SEC Eastern Division title.
The No. 5 Vols' first victory at Florida Field in 30 years sets up an SEC Championship matchup Saturday night in Atlanta against LSU. Tennessee defeated LSU 26-18 in Knoxville on Sept. 29.
The win over the Gators and another next week could even propel Tennessee (10-1, 7-1 SEC) into a national championship
game in the Rose Bowl if the Bowl Championship Series computers add up just right.
Clausen's TD stops Irish 28-18
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - As Tennessee walked off the fabled turf of Notre Dame Stadium late Saturday afternoon, it appears to have stamped its identity.
These Vols do what it takes.
And, it might be added, they don't do much more than that.
A 28-18 win over Notre Dame before a crowd of 80,795 on a perfect football afternoon improved Tennessee to 6-1 and kept the Vols on the fringe of the national championship picture.
Fourth-quarter rally keeps UT streak going.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - When the fourth quarter began Saturday, Alabama thought it could see the end of that long, awful losing streak to Tennessee.
When the fourth quarter ended, though, the Vols' domination couldn't have been reinstated in more emphatic fashion.
Tennessee might have never ruled a fourth quarter against Alabama like it did on this picture-perfect football afternoon before 83,818 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The 11th-ranked Vols staged two clock-crunching touchdown marches to nail down a 35-24 win, extending their streak over the Crimson Tide to a historic 7 in a row. No other team has ever beat Alabama 7 times in a row.
Clausen to Washington
UT's combo burns Tigers in 26-18 win
A three-week layoff extended into three weeks plus two quarters for Tennessee's offense Saturday night.
Then the No. 7-ranked Vols opened the second half with three consecutive touchdowns and made it stand up for a 26-18 victory over No. 14 LSU.
A crowd of 108,472, the second largest ever at Neyland Stadium, witnessed freshman receiver Kelley Washington carry the Vols (3-0, 2-0 SEC) with a record-breaking performance.
Washington, the 22-year-old former baseball minor-leaguer, included a 70-yard touchdown pass from Casey Clausen among his school-record, single-game, 256 receiving yards that came on 11 catches.
Stephens runs for 206 yards in 13-3 win.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - When you have a defense like Tennessee does, the offense has the luxury of taking its time.
Trailing 3-0, the No. 8-ranked Vols scored 13 points in the final 10 minutes to escape with a 13-3 win over Arkansas on a stormy night that twice delayed the action with lightning bolts.
Alex Walls kicked a pair of fourth-quarter field goals and Travis Stephens punctuated a record-tying night with a 3-yard touchdown with 59 seconds to play.
"I challenged our team," said head coach Phillip Fulmer, "to see if they really are a top 10-type football team, if they could overcome injuries like our '98 team did, to see if we're going to improve from one week to the next, and to see if we're going to play with power and passion.
"In most of those areas, I think they got it done."
Stephens achieved workhorse status by gaining 206 yards on 41 carries, tying the school record for rushing attempts set by Johnnie Jones in 1983.
The Razorbacks looked for three quarters as if they were going to inaugurate remodeled Reynolds Razorback Stadium with an upset. But Tennessee (2-0, 1-0 SEC) disappointed a sodden record crowd of 70,470 that braved the sometimes spectacular elements.