KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UCLA stopped Tennessee’s Montario Hardesty on fourth-and-2 in the closing minutes and the Bruins made it two in a row against the Volunteers with a 19-15 victory Saturday.
Trailing by 6, the Vols (1-1) had a chance to take the lead after driving 52 yards, but UCLA held fast and Lane Kiffin lost for the first time as Tennessee coach.
With a trip to Florida on tap for the Vols next week, Kiffin has a lot of work to do.
Tennessee got a safety when Dennis Rogan sacked Kevin Prince on the next drive, but an inept Jonathan Crompton took a sack and threw three incomplete passes after getting the ball back.
After throwing five touchdown passes in the season opener, Crompton unraveled against the Bruins.
On the first play after halftime, he threw his third interception of the day and second to Rahim Moore, who now has five for the season. Kai Forbath kicked a 39-yard field goal four plays later for a 13-10 lead.
Kiffin, who has pledged not to shuffle quarterbacks during games, stuck with Crompton. Tennessee went three-and-out on its next two drives, and Forbath answered with field goals of 31 and 47 yards to give UCLA a 19-10 lead with 2:39 in the third quarter.
Forbath, who beat Tennessee with an overtime field goal in California last season, made four field goals in the rematch.
Prince finished 11-for-23 for 101 yards and the one touchdown. Johnathan Franklin had 80 yards rushing.
In the second quarter, Crompton fumbled a snap at the Tennessee 36, and Jerzy Siewierski recovered. A few plays later, Prince threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Chane Moline as he was being hit, tying the score at 10 with 7:09 before halftime.
Crompton threw interceptions on the next two drives. He overthrew Gerald Jones on the first and hit Moore instead. On the second he threw right to Alterraun Verner.
Crompton completed 13 of 26 for 93 yards. Hardesty finished with 89 yards rushing.
But the Bruins couldn’t capitalize on either. UCLA went three-and-out on the first, and Forbath missed a 51-yard field goal to end the half.
UCLA had it’s own problems hanging on to the ball. The Bruins fumbled five times, losing the ball once.
Willie Bohannan sacked Prince, causing a fumble, and Gerald Williams recovered at the UCLA 11. Hardesty took care of the rest on the next play to put Tennessee up 10-3 with 2:58 in the first quarter.
The Vols’ defense reached Prince many times but usually after he released the ball. He was sacked twice, including the safety, and had a limp and a bloody mouth by the end of the game.
UCLA had only 186 yards of offense compared to Tennessee’s 208. The Bruins had four fewer first downs, held the ball for three fewer minutes and had 60 more yards in penalties.
UCLA 3 7 9 0—19
Tennessee 10 0 0 5—15
First Quarter
UCLA—FG Forbath 26, 10:44.
Tenn—FG Lincoln 31, 5:07.
Tenn—Hardesty 11 run (Lincoln kick), 2:58.
Second Quarter
UCLA—Moline 12 pass from Prince (Forbath kick), 7:09.
Third Quarter
UCLA—FG Forbath 39, 14:00.
UCLA—FG Forbath 31, 9:53.
UCLA—FG Forbath 47, 2:39.
Fourth Quarter
Tenn—FG Lincoln 28, 9:56.
Tenn—Rogan Safety, 1:41.
A—102,239.
UCLA Tenn
First downs 12 16
Rushes-yards 36-85 44-115
Passing 101 93
Comp-Att-Int 11-23-0 13-26-3
Return Yards 62 6
Punts-Avg. 4-47.0 3-49.7
Fumbles-Lost 6-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 9-70 2-10
Time of Possession 28:22 31:38
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—UCLA, Franklin 17-80, Knox 3-12, Coleman 6-1, Team 2-(minus 3), Prince 8-(minus 5). Tennessee, Hardesty 26-89, B.Brown 11-34, Crompton 7-(minus 8).
PASSING—UCLA, Prince 11-23-0-101. Tennessee, Crompton 13-26-3-93.
RECEIVING—UCLA, Paulsen 2-22, Harkey 2-18, Moline 2-12, Presley 1-12, Knox 1-11, Franklin 1-10, Austin 1-9, Carroll 1-7. Tennessee, Hancock 5-58, Stocker 2-10, B.Brown 2-8, Warren 1-7, Z.Rogers 1-6, Hardesty 1-3, Cooper 1-1.
lsu 23, vanderbilt 9
BATON ROUGE, La. — Keiland Williams proved to be enough to power the LSU offense, which has yet to hit high gear.
Williams rushed for 72 yards and LSU’s only two touchdowns in a victory over Vanderbilt on a rainy night.
The Commodores (1-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed by one touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as they attempted to win in Tiger Stadium for the first time since 1951.
No. 11 LSU (2-0, 1-0) pushed it to 23-9 with 6:01 to go after Williams’ second touchdown. He slipped a tackle at the line of scrimmage, cut back, then faked a defender to the ground before hurdling over him and into the end zone for the 14-yard score.
Larry Smith scored Vanderbilt’s only touchdown on a 6-yard quarterback keeper in the first half. Vanderbilt freshman Zac Stacy rushed for 89 yards.
LSU’s Charles Scott did not have one of his better days, finishing with 49 yards rushing, but powered through the line to convert a pair of third-and-short runs on LSU’s final scoring drive.
That drive seemed to have stalled on Joel Caldwell’s diving interception near the goal line, but linebacker Chris Marve was called for defensive holding, giving the Tigers a first down on the Vanderbilt 24-yard line.
For most of the game, however, Vanderbilt’s defense kept the Commodores in the game with clutch stops, at times frustrating an LSU crowd still waiting to see the Tigers explode following a nervous 31-23 victory at Washington a week earlier. They’ll have to wait at least until Louisiana-Lafayette comes to Baton Rouge next weekend.
LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson had trouble finding open receivers downfield, constantly checking down to receivers running short routes. He was 20-of-29 for 138 yards. He did not throw and interception but was sacked three times. His longest completion went for 30 yards to R.J. Jackson late in the first half, setting up the second of Josh Jasper’s three field goals.
LSU made only five trips inside the Vanderbilt 20-yard line, and three of the first four ended in field goals.
Jasper connected from 32, 22 and 24 yards, the last one putting LSU up 16-7 in the third quarter.
Vanderbilt pulled back within a touchdown when LSU long snapper Alex Russian sent the ball sailing over punter Derek Helton’s head for a safety.
Early in the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt was driving for a potential game-tying score when receiver Alex Washington bobbled what would have been a first-down catch at the LSU 15-yard line and defensive back Brandon Taylor made his first career interception.
It was a respectable performance for the Commodores, though not as good as they had hoped after their 45-0 victory over Western Carolina last week. Penalties haunted the Commodores. They committed seven for 52 yards, and several of them sustained LSU scoring drives.
Vanderbilt yielded its first points of the season late in the first quarter after committing a pair of face mask penalties during an LSU drive capped by Williams’ 6-yard touchdown run.
Vanderbilt cut its deficit to 10-7 when Smith scored easily on a 6-yard keeper after faking the handoff to Stacy. It was no wonder LSU bit on the fake. A few plays earlier, Stacy’s serpentine 26-yard run around the right side put the Commodores on the LSU 21.
LSU’s defense shut out the Vanderbilt offense in the second half, however, and allowed Smith little success through the air. He finished 11-of-24 passing for 88 yards and one interception.
Vanderbilt 0 7 2 0 —9
LSU 7 6 3 7—23
First Quarter
LSU—K.Williams 6 run (Jasper kick), 2:12.
Second Quarter
LSU—FG Jasper 32, 10:22.
Van—Smith 6 run (Fowler kick), 7:20.
LSU—FG Jasper 22, :02.
Third Quarter
LSU—FG Jasper 24, 9:23.
Van—Safety, 1:35.
Fourth Quarter
LSU—K.Williams 14 run (Jasper kick), 6:01.
A—91,566.
Van LSU
First downs 12 22
Rushes-yards 39-122 42-178
Passing 88 148
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 21-30-0
Return Yards 1 40
Punts-Avg. 8-38.1 4-40.0
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 7-52 5-28
Time of Possession 23:37 36:23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Vanderbilt, Stacy 20-89, Reeves 5-35, van Rensburg 1-4, Smith 13-(minus 6). LSU, K.Williams 10-72, Scott 13-49, Shepard 3-27, Holliday 3-14, LaFell 3-13, Jefferson 8-10, Murphy 1-7, Team 1-(minus 14).
PASSING—Vanderbilt, Smith 11-24-1-88. LSU, Jefferson 20-29-0-138, Lee 1-1-0-10.
RECEIVING—Vanderbilt, Monahan 3-25, Cole 2-20, Stacy 2-14, Reeves 1-11, Washington 1-11, Barden 1-4, Ashley 1-3. LSU, LaFell 7-38, Jackson 6-55, Toliver 3-21, Dickson 2-14, Scott 1-10, Shepard 1-6, Murphy 1-4.
florida 56, troy 6
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — No. 1 Florida finished its “preseason” undefeated and unchallenged.
Now, it’s Tennessee time.
Tim Tebow threw four touchdown passes, ran for another score and the Gators beat Troy in their final tuneup before beginning Southeastern Conference play.
Florida (2-0) started slow in this one, punting twice and fumbling once in its first four series. But once Tebow & Co. got on track in the rain, the Trojans (0-2) looked nearly as overmatched as Charleston Southern did last week.
Tebow completed 15 of 24 passes for 237 yards and equaled his career high with four TD passes. He also ran 13 times for 71 yards. His 4-yard TD run was the 45th of his career and tied him with former Auburn star Cadillac Williams for third on the SEC’s all-time list.
He has Kevin Faulk (LSU) and Herschel Walker (Georgia) in his sights.
Tennessee, too.
The Gators have won four in a row against the Volunteers, and Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin’s recruiting accusations in February have Florida players and coach Urban Meyer ready.
They certainly looked ready against Troy.
Jeff Demps ran for 87 yards and a touchdown. Chris Rainey added 85 yards on the ground and a score. Riley Cooper continued his strong start, catching five passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Deonte Thompson, who dropped a third-down pass early in the game and would-be TD pass in the opener, rebounded with a 33-yard touchdown reception.
Florida’s defense, upset about giving up 323 yards against Charleston Southern, allowed 139 Saturday. Getting a boost from the return of defensive end Jermaine Cunningham and cornerback Janoris Jenkins, the unit also recovered two fumbles and had an interception.
Cunningham and Jenkins were suspended for the opener. Cunningham forced a fumble early, and Jenkins had the interception midway through the second quarter.
Troy 3 0 3 0 —6
Florida 7 28 14 7—56
First Quarter
Fla—Thompson 6 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick), 6:39.
Troy—FG Glusman 45, :51.
Second Quarter
Fla—Cooper 36 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick), 11:33.
Fla—Tebow 4 run (Phillips kick), 8:04.
Fla—Thompson 33 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick), 7:44.
Fla—Demps 24 run (Phillips kick), 4:03.
Third Quarter
Fla—James 32 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick), 12:27.
Fla—Rainey 1 run (Sturgis kick), 8:38.
Troy—FG Glusman 42, :39.
Fourth Quarter
Fla—Gillislee 6 pass from Brantley (Sturgis kick), 6:19.
A—90,349.
Troy Fla
First downs 8 32
Rushes-yards 35-73 46-291
Passing 66 372
Comp-Att-Int 8-24-1 25-36-0
Return Yards 0 5
Punts-Avg. 9-44.2 3-38.0
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 6-3
Penalties-Yards 6-51 10-87
Time of Possession 28:17 31:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Troy, Du.Harris 16-44, Southward 3-27, Parker 6-22, Greer 3-7, L.Brown 6-(minus 12), Silvoy 1-(minus 15). Florida, Demps 7-87, Rainey 12-85, Tebow 13-71, James 4-15, Cooper 1-14, Moody 1-12, Gillislee 5-8, Brantley 2-1, Thompson 1-(minus 2).
PASSING—Troy, L.Brown 8-24-1-66. Florida, Tebow 15-24-0-237, Brantley 10-12-0-135.
RECEIVING—Troy, C.Williams 2-10, Jarboe 2-6, Gill 1-24, Marcum 1-10, Cherry 1-8, Du.Harris 1-8. Florida, Cooper 5-82, Hines 4-67, Hernandez 4-39, Holliday 3-66, James 2-49, Thompson 2-39, Williams 2-15, Nelson 2-9, Gillislee 1-6.
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