Quarterback Makes Effort Not to Lose Pigskin Classic : Football: Andy Kelly completes 18 of 27 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns in the game’s final 15 minutes, rallying Tennessee to a 31-31 tie with Colorado.

ANAHEIM — Andy Kelly, Tennessee quarterback, sensed the eager anticipation in his receivers every time they stepped to the huddle.

“You could see it in their eyes,” Kelly said. “What’s the play? What’s the play?”

This much was no secret: Tennessee was going to throw the ball. Kelly knew it. His receivers knew it. Colorado knew it.

“Their four linemen were laying their ears back and coming,” Kelly said.

Tennessee fell behind Colorado by two touchdowns twice in Sunday’s fourth quarter of the first Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim Stadium.

And with a desperate but relentless offense that once tried 19 pass plays in a row, the Volunteers came back, earning a 31-31 tie by scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter.

Kelly, a junior, hadn’t thrown more than 28 passes in a game since he has been at Tennessee.

He threw 27 in the fourth quarter alone Sunday, completing 18 of them for 241 yards and two touchdowns in the game’s final 15 minutes.

On the day, Kelly tried more passes and completed more than any Tennessee quarterback ever had: 33 completions in 55 attempts. He ended with 368 yards passing, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

He finished the day with the best game of his career. He did not start that way.

He threw two interceptions in the first half--both of them giving Colorado the ball inside the Tennessee 30, both of them resulting in Colorado scores.

“I was not pleased with our first-half performance,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t making good decisions, and whether it be the linemen or the receivers not running exact routes, we weren’t executing.”

Then came desperation.

“Obviously we got down and had to start throwing the ball,” Kelly said.

He guided three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. The first took 41 seconds. Two incomplete passes, and then four completions in a row. Thirteen yards to Alvin Harper, 27 to Carl Pickens, six to Mark Adams and 24 yards to Harper for a touchdown. Tennessee was still behind, 24-17.

The Volunteers got a break when they recovered a fumble at the Colorado 19, and lost it when Kelly’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Tim James.

Within a minute, Tennessee was down by two touchdowns again after Colorado running back Mike Pritchard’s touchdown run on a 78-yard play off Darian Hagan’s hopping, off-balance pitch.

Tennessee was back where it had been, trailing by 14 points.

“No one felt we were out of it,” Kelly said. “We take pride in sticking with it. Until it gets really, really late and you’re really, really down, you have to keep at it.”

Tennessee started at its 13. Kelly found Pickens for 24 yards, and fullback Greg Amsler for 11. Harper got four yards on a reception, then Harper got 20. Kelly tried to connect with Pickens, but the pass fell incomplete--the only incompletion of the drive. Kelly hit Amsler for 14 yards, and then Pickens hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass. Colorado 31, Tennessee 24, 5:36 to play.

The next time Tennessee got the ball, 4 minutes 9 seconds were left to play.

Once again, Kelly went to work. The game was wearing on Colorado’s defense, and it showed.

“As the game went on, our guys got tired and didn’t quite push and pressure them,” Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said. “It took a toll. We got beat a lot over the middle. Our linebackers were consistently late. They were left open over the middle countless times, and we gave their quarterback plenty of time to hold the ball.”

Tennessee took the ball at its 26 and started moving again. Pickens, who caught eight passes for 141 yards, had catches of 16 yards and 29 yards.

On first down at the 17, Colorado’s Alfred Williams swept in for a sack. But Tennessee’s confidence was unshaken.

“As it went on, and we started rolling, I was like any player, my confidence started building,” Kelly said. “I felt good on every pass play we called.”

Williams’ sack had backed Tennessee into a hole. On third and 12 at the Colorado 19, Kelly completed a pass to Vince Moore, who took it about seven yards downfield and headed for the goal line. But his knee was ruled down at the 12, leaving Tennessee with a fourth down and five, and no choice but to go for it.

Kelly went to Harper, who snagged the ball on the right sideline for a first-and-goal at the four.

“How about that catch, fourth-and-five on the sidelines?” McCartney said. “That was a great play. That was right by me. Those guys are dangerous, all three of them.”

On Kelly’s next pass, Colorado free safety Greg Thomas had a chance for an interception, but botched the opportunity.

Colorado was still looking for the pass. It had come time after time, and they thought it was coming again when Chuck Webb swept in on a draw play. The kick after the touchdown tied the score, 31-31, with 2:25 left.

Tennessee had come back, but got no further.

It was a lot of effort, not to win.

Kelly didn’t look at it that way.

“It was a lot of effort not to lose, “ he said.