Nothing Upsets Tennessee

While Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer knew about the higher-ranked teams losing Saturday, the ninth-ranked Volunteers kept their blinders on and beat the only opponent they saw in their way.

Travis Stephens ran for two touchdowns as the Volunteers beat No. 12 South Carolina, 17-10, at Knoxville, Tenn., to remain in the hunt for a trip to the SEC championship game.

Before the game, Fulmer watched Syracuse play No. 5 Virginia Tech and No. 3 Nebraska take on second-ranked Oklahoma. He later learned of the upsets and told his players. No. 4 UCLA also lost to No. 20 Stanford.

“The teams that get better and stay healthy during the course of the year are the teams that are there at the end,” Fulmer said.

The win tied Tennessee (5-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) with Florida for the lead in the SEC East. They will play their postponed game on Dec. 1.

South Carolina (6-2, 5-2) is tied for second with Georgia.

The Gamecocks, who are 0-11 in Neyland Stadium and have lost nine in a row to the Volunteers, never led but tied it at 10 on Daniel Weaver’s 24-yard field goal with 13:21 left.

On the next drive, the Volunteers took six minutes off the clock before Stephens scored from one yard out.

South Carolina, which moved the ball for 157 yards on the stingiest rush defense in the SEC, didn’t go anywhere on the next drive but got the ball back with 3:38 to go and drove to the Tennessee 38.

But on fourth and five, Phil Petty’s pass was incomplete to Corey Alexander and South Carolina was called for holding, giving the ball back to Tennessee with 54 seconds left.

Arkansas 42, No. 17 Auburn 17--Zak Clark threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Richard Smith, and backup quarterback Matt Jones made big plays running and throwing for Arkansas (4-3, 2-3) at Fayetteville, Ark.

Smith’s second touchdown of the first half--the other came on Jones’ first collegiate pass--gave Arkansas (4-3, 2-3) a 21-10 lead.

Mississippi 35, Louisiana State 24--Eli Manning threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Doug Zeigler to rally Mississippi (6-1, 3-1) at Baton Rouge, La.

Manning, who completed 28 of 44 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, tied his father, Archie Manning, for the school record of eight consecutive games with a touchdown pass.

Domanick Davis had 99 yards rushing for Louisiana State (4-3, 2-3).