Volunteers Work Hard for First SEC East Title

Now that No. 3 Tennessee has its first Southeastern Conference East title, the Volunteers are looking for more.

“I don’t think there is an SEC East champion and an SEC West champion,” defensive end Jonathan Brown said after Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, 17-10, Saturday. “There’s an SEC champion. We’re not content with where we are right now.”

The Volunteers, 10-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC, will meet Auburn (9-2, 6-2) on Saturday in Atlanta for the SEC title and a berth in an alliance bowl. A win over the Tigers most likely puts Tennessee in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2.

“We’re elated with the win and having the Eastern Division championship,” Coach Phillip Fulmer said. “I hope the players understand that’s not the last stop. We’re looking forward to going to Atlanta.”

Peyton Manning didn’t have one of his better performances, completing 12 of 27 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown in his final home game.

Jamal Lewis gained 196 yards to lead the Volunteers in a tense struggle against Vanderbilt (3-8, 0-8), which held Tennessee to its season low for points for the third year in a row.

“I don’t want to hear ‘Same ol’ Vandy’ or about moral victories,” said Vanderbilt Coach Woody Widenhofer as the Commodores lost their 15th in a row to the Volunteers. “I don’t want to take anything away from Tennessee. They’re a great football team, they deserve their ranking. But we just battled them nose-to-nose, face-to-face, belly-to-belly. We gave it all we could give.”

Vanderbilt put up yet another valiant defensive effort--the Commodores held on to the league’s No. 1 defensive ranking by limiting the Volunteers to 339 yards--but ended without a conference victory for the second year in a row.

Manning, who directed the Tennessee band in “Rocky Top” after the game as the seniors took a victory lap, said, “The main thing was to win the game, but I wanted to soak everything in and enjoy the moment. I enjoyed it out there today.”

The Volunteers seemed to have figured out the Vanderbilt defense in the second half, but fumbled at or inside the Commodore 20 three times in the half.

The Tennessee defense, meanwhile, held Vanderbilt to 215 total yards and came up with four turnovers, with cornerback Dwayne Goodrich intercepting two passes and recovering a fumble.

What proved to be the winning score came after Goodrich intercepted a Damian Allen pass and returned it four yards to the Vanderbilt 41 early in the third quarter.

Lewis, who carried 36 times, gained 32 yards in five carries and Manning bootlegged in from the one on third down after faking to Lewis.

Manning’s run made it 17-3 with 7:08 left in the third quarter.