Martin Warms to the Occasion

TENNESSEE 24, MISSISSIPPI ST. 14

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Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin’s game in the Southeastern Conference championship was a little bit like his season, his first at the helm after Peyton Manning graduated. Once he got going, the Volunteers were in good shape.

Through the first three quarters Saturday night he completed 11 of 25 passes for 105 yards and one interception. But in the fourth quarter he was four for eight for 103 yards and two touchdowns.

“I just tip my hat off to Tee for coming out of whatever zone he was in,” said wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, who caught Martin’s second touchdown pass to put the game away. “He was playing kind of poor, but in the fourth quarter he was like a different person. That just tells what type of quarterback Tee Martin is. He’s wonderful.”

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Mississippi State defensive back Robert Bean didn’t go so far as to proclaim the Georgia Dome his house, the way former Atlanta Falcon Deion Sanders once did, but the Georgia native did have a strong homecoming.

Bean had a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown that gave Mississippi State a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

“This was a big game for me,” said Bean, who is from Decatur. “This is my hometown. I knew I had to step up my game.”

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Tennessee wide receiver Peerless Price was named the game’s most valuable player. He had six receptions for 97 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown, and two kickoff returns for 55 yards.

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A Sugar Bowl official said Arizona has made a very attractive pitch for the Wildcats to play in the New Orleans-based bowl.

UCLA’s loss to Miami on Saturday most likely knocked the Bruins out of Fiesta Bowl contention and they now probably will play in the Rose Bowl as the Pacific 10 champions.

If UCLA had played in the Fiesta Bowl, Pac-10 runner-up Arizona (11-1) would have played in the Rose Bowl for the first time.

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The winner of the SEC championship game has had a chance at the national championship five times since the game began in 1992.

Alabama beat Miami for the title in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. Florida lost to Nebraska in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl, then beat Florida State to win the championship in the Sugar Bowl in 1997. Last year, Tennessee needed Michigan and Nebraska to lose, which didn’t happen.

The Volunteers will have matters in their own hands at the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 4.