SOUTHEAST ROUNDUP : Tennessee Beats Florida With a Burst, 45-3

The first half of Saturday night’s game between No. 5 Tennessee and No. 9 Florida was the even struggle that most had predicted.

But the second half was all Tennessee.

Dale Carter returned the second-half kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown to start a 28-point third quarter that gave Tennessee a 45-3 victory in a Southeastern Conference showdown at Knoxville, Tenn.

Carter’s return gave Tennessee a 14-3 lead and signaled an abrupt end to what had been a fierce defensive struggle between the Volunteers, 4-0-2 overall and 2-0-1 in the SEC, and the Gators (5-1, 3-1).

“Dale’s kickoff return really built our confidence,” Tennessee quarterback Andy Kelly said. “Fact is, the entire second half was a confidence-builder. Being realistic, we thought the game would be much tougher and certainly closer.”

Florida fumbled on the ensuing possession after Carter’s return and the Volunteer offensive surge gathered momentum. Tennessee drove 68 yards in 10 plays, taking a 21-3 lead on Tony Thompson’s 13-yard run.

The outburst reached its pinnacle when tight end Von Reeves took a handoff from Kelly, faded back and threw a perfect 47-yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens to make it 28-3 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

Florida tried to rally behind reserve quarterback Brian Fox, but he was intercepted on three consecutive possessions.

Tennessee’s Reggie Ingram returned one 42 yards for a touchdown to give the Vols a 35-3 lead and cap the four-touchdown quarter.

“In 24 years, I can’t remember one quite like it,” Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors said of the outburst. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a game break open like that one did the second half in my life.”

The homecoming game drew the second-largest crowd in school history, 96,874, and ended Florida’s four-game winning streak in the series.

It was Florida’s first loss under new Coach Steve Spurrier and represented the largest margin of defeat in a 20-game series between the teams since 1916. The previous biggest margin was Tennessee’s 40-0 victory in 1944.

“We played lousy,” Spurrier said. “We were beaten by a better team. It was fairly close for a half, but things got out of hand fast.”

No. 24 Mississippi 28, Georgia 12--Ricky Baldwin rushed for 106 yards and scored on runs of three and 13 yards as the Rebels won an SEC game at Athens, Ga. for the first time in 20 years.

Mississippi had not won at Athens since 1970 when quarterback Archie Manning led the Rebels to a 31-21 victory.

“This is one of the toughest places to play in the country, and I thought our composure in the second half was the difference,” Mississippi Coach Billy Brewer said.

Mississippi (5-1 overall, 2-1 in the SEC), built a 21-3 lead in the first half, then withstood a Georgia rally that cut the lead to 21-12 six minutes into the second half.

The victory ended a nine-game losing streak on Georgia’s home field. It was the Rebels’ second victory in a row over Georgia, after ending a 12-game Bulldog winning streak in the series last year.

Georgia (3-3, 1-2) scored its only touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Greg Talley to Kevin Maxwell and also got field goals of 22 and 38 yards from John Kasay.

“Ole Miss was the better team today,” Georgia Coach Ray Goff said. “You can give all sorts of reasons, but they came out and got the job done. We didn’t.”

Kentucky 17, Mississippi State 15--Noseguard Joey Couch deflected a field-goal attempt with 3:26 left in the game, and Kentucky’s defenders blocked two other tries in leading the Wildcats (2-4, 1-1) to an SEC victory at Lexington, Ky.

Mississippi State (2-3 overall, 0-3 in the SEC) had rallied from a 17-3 deficit to within 17-15 on Tony Shell’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Bouldin with 14:22 left.

Mississippi State got the ball with 6:17 left and drove to the Kentucky 31 where Couch blocked Chris Gardner’s field-goal attempt.