Tennessee Earns Its Second Win of Week

Gerald Riggs ran for a touchdown and Jonathan Wade returned an interception for another score to give No. 10 Tennessee a first-quarter lead, and the Vols held on to beat Mississippi, 27-10, on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Rebels were hoping to catch Tennessee either tired or too excited after Monday night’s dramatic comeback at Louisiana State, but Mississippi couldn’t muster enough momentum to rebound from back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Wyoming.

“We had two wins in the SEC in six days. I’m not sure any other team has done that,” Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer said.

The Rebels (1-3, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) lost their 12th straight to Tennessee in new Coach Ed Orgeron’s first visit to Neyland Stadium. Ole Miss didn’t score until 10:18 was left in the game.

The Volunteers (3-1, 2-1) looked as if they were headed for a rout after getting a quick 14-0 lead. But the Ole Miss defense stiffened and held Tennessee to three field-goal attempts the rest of the first half. James Wilhoit made a 25-yarder and missed a 44-yarder, and his 51-yard attempt was blocked.

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No. 4 Louisiana State 37, Mississippi State 7 -- JaMarcus Russell threw two touchdown passes to Dwayne Bowe in Starkville, Miss.

Russell finished 20 of 23 for 197 yards for the Tigers, who started with a brief defensive hiccup before rediscovering their rhythm, holding Mississippi State (2-3, 0-3) to 56 yards rushing and beating the Bulldogs for the sixth straight time.

LSU (2-1, 1-1) scored on three consecutive first-half possessions and rolled to its 13th victory over Mississippi State in 14 meetings

On the fifth play from scrimmage, Omarr Conner hit Joey Sanders from 66 yards for a short-lived 7-0 lead.

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Auburn 48, South Carolina 7 -- Brandon Cox threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, and the Tigers (4-1, 2-0) scored on five of their first seven possessions at home. Cox completed 19 of 29 passes, showing no ill effects from the stomach virus that caused him to miss last week’s win over Western Kentucky.

South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier, former Florida coach, has now lost three straight SEC games for the first time in his career. His team is 2-3, 0-3.

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Middle Tennessee 17, Vanderbilt 15 -- Jeremiah Weaver blocked a last-second, 36-yard field-goal attempt at Nashville to help hand the Commodores (4-1) their first defeat.

The Blue Raiders (1-3) kept the Commodores from going 5-0 for the first time since World War II. Colby Smith kicked a 29-yard field goal with 6:41 left to put the Blue Raiders in the lead.