Vols squeak by Northern Illinois, 13-9

KNOXVILLE — A Texas-tandem touchdown toss temporarily revitalized the Tennessee football team’s inept offense Saturday night.

That aberration was all the Volunteers needed, at least against Northern Illinois.

A perfectly thrown 52-yard scoring strike from Nick Stephens to Denarius Moore briefly ignited the Vols, who immediately returned to their stagnant selves but held on for a 13-9 victory in a nervous Neyland Stadium.

The Huskies (2-3) hung around — thanks largely to UT mistakes — but were stopped just short on fourth down in their territory with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left.

Predictably, Tennessee (2-3) failed to get a first down and run out the clock. But NIU took over inside its own 20 with 0:14 left and couldn’t threaten.

“We’ll take the win,” Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said. “We’ve been on the short end of a couple of those like that. That’s a good football team that we just played.”

UT officials were worried that another slow start would generate an unusually small crowd for Saturday night’s pay-per-view game. The actual attendance probably wasn’t too far from the announced crowd of 99,539, but it was the second time in three games that attendance dipped below six figures — thanks in large part to another lackluster showing from the student section.

Stephens was far from flawless in his first career start, but he completed 10 of 17 passes for 156 yards, and his receivers dropped at least three passes.

Most of the offense’s biggest mistakes weren’t Stephens’ fault, and Fulmer said the strong-armed sophomore played well enough to keep the starting spot next week at Georgia.

“Nick didn’t disappoint me,” Fulmer said. “I was really proud of the way he managed the game and threw the ball, for the most part. There’s certainly room to grow, and he’ll do that.”

Stephens’ first career touchdown interestingly found its way to a fellow Texan, giving the Vols a 13-3 lead with 9:49 left in the third quarter.

It was clear the Vols had worked on that play all week, as Stephens said, because the ball was thrown before Moore separated from the defensive back.

“We thought, pre-snap, we had a shot at it,” Stephen said. “The line held up, Arian (Foster) made a great block and I didn’t feel any pressure, so I was just looking for D-Mo.

“He started coming open, and I know he can run, so I just laid it out there for him.”

Northern Illinois didn’t collapse, though.

The Huskies hit a long pass to set up a field goal and get within 13-6, and their defense blindsided Stephens to force and recover a fumble at the Vols 9-yard line.

UT’s defense again kept the Huskies out of the end zone, but Mike Salerno’s third field goal pulled them within 13-9 with less 1:51 left in the third quarter.

The Vols drove inside NIU’s 5 with less than seven minutes left, but Stephens was sacked on third-and-goal before Daniel Lincoln missed a 32-yard field goal. That was the fourth time this season UT advanced inside an opponent’s 10 and failed to score, after doing that just twice all of last season.

Asked if he thought the offensive line struggled, Fulmer said, “I thought they did. That was extremely disappointing.”

Foster helped the Vols run out some clock in the fourth quarter, finishing with 75 yards on 18 carries.

Stephens’ first big third-quarter pass eventually gave UT a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. He stood up to the Huskies rush and delivered a 43-yard pass to sophomore receiver Gerald Jones, who was corralled at the NIU 21.

The Vols couldn’t fully capitalize, though, taking just a 6-3 lead on Lincoln’s 34-yard kick.

“We didn’t really have a chance in the first half to go out and run those (deep passing) plays,” Stephens said. “But the first opportunity we had in the second half, we took a shot.”

Stephens completed 8 of 12 passes for 54 yards in the first half despite drops from Jones and sophomore tight end Brandon Warren.

Those drops weren’t the only first-half problems, though.

Northern Illinois converted four of its first six tries on third down, as the Huskies plodded down the field against a UT defense that continued to struggle getting off the field.

The Huskies held the ball for more than 18 minutes in the first half despite gaining just 97 yards of total offense. The mistake-prone Vols were even worse, though, collecting just 82 yards in the first two quarters.

UT’s first possession ended with senior receiver Josh Briscoe’s fumble near midfield, and that short field set up the game’s first score. Salerno, who missed from 46 yards on NIU’s first possession, hit a 25-yarder to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead with 2:53 left in the first quarter.

“Offensively, guys get used to each other, and there’s a process that go with that,” Fulmer said. “But (Stephens) threw to all the receivers all week, so that shouldn’t have been a problem. ... He throws a nice ball.”

Sophomore safety Eric Berry gave the Vols a short field minutes later, returning an interception 50 yards inside the NIU red zone. Another offensive penalty nullified a UT first-and-goal, though, and the Vols settled for Lincoln’s upright-clinking, 36-yard kick to tie the score midway through the second quarter.

NIU got the ball near midfield with 2:17 left in the first half after partially blocking a Chad Cunningham punt — the latest in a lengthening line of Vols’ special-team blunders — but UT’s defense stiffened again to keep the game tied.

“Keeping them out of the end zone all night, you’ve got to be happy with that,” Vols senior defensive tackle Walter Fisher said.