COLLEGE FOOTBALL / WEEK 2 : SOUTHEAST : Tennessee’s Powerful Burst Leads to Easy 42-17 Victory

For 52 1/2 of the 60 minutes, Wyoming went nose-to-nose with No. 3 Tennessee and played the Volunteers to a standoff.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, those other 7 1/2 minutes were devastating.

Tennessee scored four touchdowns during that stretch in the second quarter, and it was enough for a 42-17 victory at Knoxville, Tenn.

“The second quarter seemed to last two and a half hours,” Cowboy Coach Dana Dimel said. “That was a long quarter.”

Jamal Lewis returned from the knee injury that ended his ’98 season to score three touchdowns and gain 159 yards in 25 carries. He also fumbled twice.

Tee Martin threw touchdown passes of 55 and 16 yards to Cedrick Wilson and linebacker Eric Westmoreland scored with a fumble recovery.

The Volunteers began defense of their national title with a big day by the defense, which had a school-record 13 sacks, four turnovers and one touchdown.

No. 4 Florida 55, Western Michigan 26--Doug Johnson threw for four touchdowns and Earnest Graham ran for 158 yards in the Gators’ season-opening victory at Gainesville, Fla., but opposing quarterback Tim Lester had as big an impact on the game as anyone.

Lester finished with 405 yards passing--314 in the first half--against a Florida defense that didn’t have a starter remaining from last season.

No. 12 Georgia 38, Utah State 7--Freshman Terrence Edwards made an electrifying debut for Georgia, catching 10 passes for 196 yards and two long touchdowns at Athens, Ga.

Sophomore Quincy Carter, who is being touted for the Heisman Trophy, got his campaign off to a good start by throwing for 320 yards and two touchdowns and running for 58 yards and another score.

No. 18 Arkansas 26, SMU 0--Anthony Lucas caught touchdown passes of 28, 63 and 70 yards and freshman Cedric Cobbs added an electrifying 53-yard touchdown run at Dallas.

The Razorbacks scored their three longest touchdowns on one-play drives, thrilling a heavily pro-Arkansas crowd of 51,019. It was the largest crowd to see the Mustangs at the Cotton Bowl since 1978.

No. 20 Alabama 28, Vanderbilt 17--Shaun Alexander scored two of his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally Alabama past Vanderbilt at Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt looked ready to upset Alabama for the first time since 1984, leading, 17-14, in the fourth quarter.

Alabama got moving when Arvin Richard returned a punt 26 yards to the Vanderbilt 21.

Alexander capped the five-play drive with a three-yard touchdown that put the Crimson Tide ahead for good at 21-17 with 9:59 to go.

Louisville 56, Kentucky 28--Chris Redman passed for 324 yards and five touchdowns in a season-opening victory at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner struggled in his first game as the successor to Tim Couch, the record-setting passer who was the No. 1 selection in the NFL draft. Bonner threw for 446 yards but was sacked eight times and threw two costly interceptions.

Auburn 22, Appalachian State 15--Ben Leard threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ronney Daniels with 38 seconds to play to help Auburn escape with a win at Auburn, Ala.

Larry Casher sealed the victory by intercepting a pass by Appalachian State’s David Reaves in the end zone as time expired. It also made Coach Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn debut a success.

Mississippi State 40, Middle Tennessee 7--Wayne Madkin threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns at Starkville, Miss.

Middle Tennessee, which formally attained NCAA Division I-A status last Wednesday after a four-year transition from I-AA, averted the shutout when Wes Counts threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Hansford Johnson on the game’s final play.

Louisiana State 29, San Jose State 21--Dominick Davis scored on a six-yard run late in the game to help LSU salvage a win at Baton Rouge, La.

San Jose State, a 26-point underdog, wasn’t expected to do much more than provide the Tigers with an easy first victory.

But the Spartans, who trailed, 17-0, with 4:26 left in the second quarter, overcame four interceptions to move within 23-21 in the fourth quarter.

Mississippi 3, Memphis 0--A 40-yard field goal by Les Binkley midway through the fourth quarter was the only scoring at Memphis, Tenn.