Sunday, November 19, 2000
Tennessee 59, Kentucky 20
Wildcats finish SEC schedule winless at 0-8
By Rusty Hampton
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Kentucky Wildcats received one more reminder Saturday about what went wrong in a football season that began with such promise but ended with eight consecutive losses.
No. 25 Tennessee scored on all six possessions in the first half and its first seven overall in cruising to a 59-20 victory before a chilled Neyland Stadium crowd of 106,437.
It marked the 16th consecutive win in the series for Tennessee (7-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference), and this one wasn't much different than many other games in that streak — or this season, for that matter.
The Wildcats once again missed tackles and struggled to cover receivers while the offense moved the ball well between the 20s but bogged down inside the red zone.
The Vols jumped on top early, streaking to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, and they broke the 50-point mark for the fifth straight year and sixth time in seven games against the Wildcats.
Said Kentucky coach Hal Mumme: “They delivered the knockout punch quick.”
“You blinked,” said Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen, “and it was 21 to nothing.”
Kentucky (2-9) never recovered and finished with its first 0-8 SEC record since 1994.
“This season had a lot of ups and downs but there were definitely more downs,” said senior halfback Derek Homer.
“Today was the same thing like all year,” said senior wide receiver Quentin McCord, who scored both Kentucky touchdowns and had a career-high 157 yards on six catches. “We never could get clicking on both sides of the ball at the same time, and our record showed that.”
The game was a microcosm of that season.
Lorenzen threw for 330 yards and Kentucky had 426 total but managed just the two Lorenzen-to-McCord TD hookups of 36 and 21 yards and two field goals by Seth Hanson. In the process, the Wildcats increased their streak of trips inside their opponents' 20 without a TD to eight.
The Volunteers sacked Lorenzen five times, raising their SEC-leading total to 45.
“We didn't have the killer instinct to score and that's something we have to work on,” said Lorenzen, who finished with five NCAA freshman passing records. “Once we get down to the 20 on in, we've got to score. We've got to put points on the board and help our defense out.”
Pretty defenseless for most of the season, the Kentucky defense was overmatched from the beginning by the Vols. Travis Henry ran for three touchdowns and 139 yards and became the school career rushing leader with 2,894 yards. Meanwhile, freshman Casey Clausen did what most SEC quarterbacks did to the Wildcats' secondary, shredded it for big gainers, easy yards and multiple scores.
Clausen, who completed 14 consecutive passes at one point, hit 19 of 24 overall, for 362 yards and four TDs.
Mumme said he hoped the Monday resignation of defensive coordinator Mike Major might light a fire. It didn't.
“We came out flat defensively,” said Mumme. “We played a lot of the younger guys and they might have been intimidated.”
Tennessee's 590 yards were the most allowed by Kentucky this year, as were the Vols' 59 points. For the season, Kentucky allowed 383 points, the most in the Mumme era and second-most in school history.
Major, who declined to discuss his resignation earlier in the week, had little more to say about it following the game.
“I talked to Hal and told him he needed some new blood and new concepts,” Major said. “I just think new people can come in and have a good off season with them and these young kids will really rise.”
How many more will follow Major to the unemployment line remains to be seen. Mumme said his new defensive coordinator will have a large say in whether the current defensive assistants are retained, but he declined to talk about impended changes.
“I'm going to do it expeditiously as possible but it's not something I want to talk about right now,” Mumme said. “I'm going to address that later.”
Kentucky ....... 0 13 0 7—20
Tennessee ....... 21 17 7 14—59
First Quarter
Tenn—Henry 3 run (Walls kick), 10:11.
Tenn—Stallworth 18 pass from Clausen (Walls kick), 5:53.
Tenn—Henry 53 run (Walls kick), :34.
Second Quarter
UK—FG Hanson 37, 13:05.
UK—FG Hanson 32, 11:01.
Tenn—Wilson 31 pass from Clausen (Walls kick), 10:27.
Tenn—Henry 2 run, (Walls kick), 3:25.
UK—McCord 36 pass from Lorenzen (Hanson kick), :51.
Tenn—FG Walls 39, :00.
Third Quarter
Tenn—Martin 33 pass from Clausen (Walls kick), 10:45.
Fourth Quarter
UK—McCord 21 pass from Lorenzen (Hanson kick), 14:30.
Tenn—Wilson 18 pass from Clausen (Walls kick), 12:52.
A—106,437.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Kentucky, Scott 14-47, Homer 7-26, McCord 1-13, Lorenzen 12-12, Team 1-(minus 2), Tennessee, Henry 18-139, Stephens 5-93, Biggers 1-8, Bartholomew 1-1.
PASSING—Kentucky, Lorenzen 24-46-2-328, Perry 1-3-0-2, Tennessee, Clausen 19-24-1-362, Suggs 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Kentucky, McCord 6-157, Homer 5-52, Scott 4-52, Robinson 3-27, Tennessee, Wilson 6-117, Bartholomew 4-32, Stallworth 3-78, Martin 2-59, Fleming 1-28.
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Tennessee 59, Kentucky 20