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VOLS CLOSE 2013 WITH 27-14 WIN AT UK
LEXINGTON, Ky. --
Tennessee finished the 2013 on a winning note, posting a 27-14 victory
at Kentucky. The Vols finish Butch Jones' first season at the helm with
a 5-7 record overall and a 2-6 mark in the SEC.
The win broke Tennessee's 11-game SEC road losing streak and 12-game overall losing streak dating to a 2010 win at Vanderbilt.
Freshman
quarterback Joshua Dobbs engineered his first win with 251 total yards,
throwing for 199 yards and two scores while rushing for 52 yards and a
TD.
Senior Rajion Neal went over 100 yards for the seventh time
in his career, finishing his final college game with 134 yards. Neal
became the 14th Vol to run for 1,000 rushing yards in a season and
finished with 1,124 in his final campaign. That stands 12th on the
career rushing list for the Vols.
Defensively, A.J. Johnson
posted nine tackles for his second consecutive 100-tackle season (106).
He became the first Vol with consecutive 100-tackle season since
Earnest Fields in 1990-91. Johnson and Brian Randolph led Tennessee
with nine tackles.
In his final game, Corey Miller posted 4.5
sacks, setting a new UT sack record besting Football Hall of Famer
Reggie White's record of four sacks recorded vs. The Citadel on Oct. 1,
1983.
Kentucky dropped to 2-10 and went winless in the league with an 0-8 mark in Mark Stoops' first season in Lexington.
Tennessee
jumped out to 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never trailed the rest
of the way. The Vols were able to convert on long scoring plays of 60,
43 and 40 yards in the first half to gain a 20-0 lead midway through
the second quarter.
On the second play from scrimmage, Neal
ripped off a career-long 60-yard rush for a touchdown. The score was
the longest offensive play of the season for Tennessee and longest rush
since Cordarrelle Patterson's 67-yard rush in the 2012 season opener.
Dobbs
threw his first-career touchdown pass on a 43-yard bomb to Jason Croom.
On the play, Croom pulled the ball out of Jaleel Hytchye's hands after
he had appeared to intercept the ball and ran in for his second-career
score. That put the Vols ahead 14-0 with 19 seconds left in the first
quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Kentucky looked to have a
great opportunity to get on the scoreboard, but Corey Miller sacked
Maxwell Smith for an 8-yard loss on third down which forced Kentucky to
punt.
Dobbs took to the ground himself to give the Vols a 20-0
lead on a 40-yard rush. That rush concluded a 98-yard drive, the
longest of the season for the Vols. Dobbs' run for a score was the
longest by a Vols quarterback since a 43-yard TD run by Alan Cockrell
in 1983 vs. LSU.
Kentucky broke the shutout with a 19-yard TD
pass from Smith to Anthony Kendrick with 1:45 left in the first half.
That made the score 20-7.
Tennessee extended its lead to 27-7 on a 7-yard dart from from Dobbs to Devrin Young with 3:14 left in the third quarter.
The
Vols defense stood tall as they stopped Kentucky on a 4th-and-1 Dyshawn
Mobley short of the goal line. Justin Coleman tripped him up and
Dontavis Sapp finished him off to give the Vols the ball.
In his
final game, Michael Palardy had a stellar day punting with a
career-long 69-yard boot. Palardy landed five of his six punts inside
the 20-yard line and three inside the 10-yard line. Four of his six
punts went for 50-plus yards.
The Vols open the 2014 season
against Utah State on Aug. 30, 2014 at Neyland Stadium ... 273 days
from the 2013 finale at Kentucky.
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