Curry Goes Out a Loser Against Tennessee

Peyton Manning passed for 317 yards and three touchdowns in just over a half to lead No. 9 Tennessee past Kentucky, 56-10, Saturday in a Southeastern Conference game at Knoxville, Tenn.

Kentucky, 4-7 overall and 3-5 in the SEC, had won three in a row since Coach Bill Curry was fired on Oct. 20, but was outmatched against the Volunteers (8-2, 6-1).

Curry finished his Kentucky career 0-7 against Tennessee, and the Volunteers won the Battle for the Beer Barrel for the 12th consecutive year.

Manning, hobbled by a knee sprain suffered last week against Arkansas, threw touchdown passes of 80 and 59 yards to Peerless Price and one of 38 yards to Andy McCullough before retiring less than halfway through the third quarter.

He completed 16 of 23 passes and became the first Tennessee quarterback ever to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a season, breaking the school single-season record he set last year.

Manning has 3,124 passing yards with one game left next Saturday against Vanderbilt.

Arkansas 16, Mississippi State 13--Todd Latourette, who missed a 48-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, kicked a 30-yarder in overtime to give the Razorbacks (4-6, 2-5) the victory at at Starkville, Miss.

After Mississippi State (4-6, 2-5) failed to score in overtime, freshman Chrys Chukwuma had a 13-yard run for Arkansas. Oscar Malone then carried twice for a total of one yard, setting up Latourette’s third field goal of the game.

Mississippi 31, Georgia 27--Ole Miss, reversing a season-long trend of fading in the second half, outscored the Bulldogs, 17-0, in the final two quarters at Athens, Ga.

The Rebels, hampered by NCAA-imposed scholarship limits, brought only 63 players but rallied from a 27-14 halftime deficit, getting two touchdowns from their defense.

Eli Anding, one of several players who must go both ways for Ole Miss (5-5, 2-5), caught a two-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.

The Bulldogs (4-6, 3-5) are assured of a losing record in Coach Jim Donnan’s debut season.

No. 18 Louisiana State 35, Tulane 17--Herb Tyler passed for one touchdown and ran for two more as the Tigers (8-2) notched a nonconference victory at Baton Rouge, La. Tulane is 2-9.

LSU’s Kevin Faulk, held to 27 yards rushing in the first half, finished with 148 in 27 carries.