Volunteer Spirit Lacking in Win

The Tennessee Volunteers hardly looked like the third-best team in the country Saturday.

The third-ranked Volunteers struggled with Alabama Birmingham the entire game and weren’t assured of victory until Darrell Hackney’s fourth-down pass sailed over the head of Blazer receiver Lance Rhodes in the end zone with less than four minutes left.

Tennessee then took over at its own 12 and ran out the clock in a 17-10 win.

“I’m not taking away from the fact that we got a win today, but it’s hard to feel great about it because I thought we’d play better than we did on both sides,” Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer said.

The Vols are off next week before playing back-to-back road games at Florida and LSU.

“If we don’t play better we’re going to struggle, especially the next couple of weeks,” Fulmer said. “So I’m expecting us to go back to work and correct our mistakes.”

Hackney, who dodged defenders all day, completed 27 of 38 passes for 282 yards with one interception. But it was the one pass he didn’t complete that he was thinking about after the game.

“It was nice to come up here and show what we could do,” Hackney said. “No one’s satisfied with losing. We didn’t make the most of our opportunities.”

Coach Watson Brown said this week he thought Tennessee was physically one of the best teams he had seen since arriving at UAB, but the Blazers were not intimidated and made the Vols’ offense and defense look suspect.

“I don’t feel like this was a moral victory,” Brown said. “Would I have been surprised if they beat us good? No. But I’m not surprised we played them good.”

The Vols have won 11 consecutive season openers, but this one wasn’t easy. The Blazers kept Tennessee from scoring in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

The game did not bode well for Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, who won the starting job over senior Rick Clausen. Ainge threw an early touchdown pass, but was intercepted twice by Brandon Register, the second one setting up UAB’s last chance.