Manning Plays Little More Than a Half as Tennessee Rolls, 62-3

Peyton Manning passed for 298 yards and a touchdown in little more than a half Saturday and No. 2 Tennessee opened its season with a 62-3 victory over Nevada Las Vegas.

With a school-record crowd of 106,212 in newly expanded Neyland Stadium, the Volunteers jumped on the Rebels for a 35-3 halftime lead and pulled away with two touchdowns in the first 3 minutes 17 seconds of the third quarter.

The Vols gained 473 yards and scored twice on fumble recoveries. UNLV was held to 184 yards.

Manning, 18 for 24 with one interception, played only one series in the second half. A 31-yard pass to Joey Kent keyed a 72-yard drive that ended in the second of Mark Levine’s two short touchdown runs for a 42-3 lead.

Just 22 seconds later, Al Wilson jarred a completed pass loose from Dahrin Footman, and the Vols’ Terry Fair scooped it up and ran 47 yards to score. That made it 49-3 with 11:43 left in the third quarter, and sent Manning and the rest of the starters to the sidelines.

Kent caught six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. It was Kent’s school-record 19th career touchdown pass, breaking a tie with Cory Fleming (1990-93).