Vols pounce on Tigers, win 56-28

KNOXVILLE -- The Tennessee football team punctuated a postcard-perfect homecoming Saturday with a night full of Playstation-potent offense.

UT jumped on Memphis in the opening minutes and annihilated the Tigers, 56-28, in Neyland Stadium.

Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton continued his late-career resurrection with a career night, completing 21 of 27 passes for 331 yards and five touchdowns in barely more than two quarters of work. He also had a 1-yard touchdown run with four seconds left in the first half, giving the Volunteers a 42-7 lead at the break.

"We knew we'd have guys open as long as we ran the routes at the right depths, and I threw it on time and the O-line blocked just like they did," Crompton said. "We expected some things to be there, and that's why we game planned that way."

Junior backup Nick Stephens entered the game on UT's second possession of the third quarter, the Vols cruising with a 42-14 advantage. Much of the second-team defense entered the game on Memphis' touchdown possession moments earlier.

First-year Vols coach Lane Kiffin expected Memphis to spend nearly two full weeks preparing to stop tailback Montario Hardesty, but UT surprised the Tigers by taking it to the air early and often.

"Our coaches have kept telling us, 'Be patient, keep blocking your butts off, and your time is going to come,'" said junior receiver Denarius Moore, who had two of the Vols' six receiving scores. "And it did tonight.

"We've come a long way. When we get ready to pass the ball, we know where (Crompton) is going to put it, and he knows where we're going to be. It's coming along really well."

Memphis (2-7) continued its seasonlong struggles with one of the program's worst performances against the Vols (5-4). Heading into Saturday, the largest deficit in this UT-dominated series had been a 55-16 win in 1969.

"In the first half, we didn't get anything done that we came into the game to get done -- offensively, defensively or on special teams," Tigers coach Tommy West said.

Kiffin eased off the gas and essentially spared the Tigers, who were outgained 327-20 before their final first-half possession. Memphis continued running its no-huddle offense, and the Tigers found much more success when UT's starters left the field.

UT's head coach didn't ease up on West after the game, though, when he finally responded to questions about the Memphis coach joking about him in the preseason.

West joked to a group of Memphis boosters that Kiffin sold a talking dog for $5 because the dog told lies.

"I guess that dog bit back a little bit today, didn't he?" Kiffin said.

Senior guard Jacques McClendon said he and teammates didn't necessarily understand West's joke but didn't appreciate anyone talking about their coach.

"That was a shot at our coach," said McClendon, the former Baylor School star. "And when you attack our coach, you're attacking our team. We've got to back our coach up, because he backs us up.

"That might have been the worst joke I've ever heard in my whole life. I guess we were supposed to take it offensively or whatever, but it is what it is. We came out and took care of business. I guess the joke's on them this week."

Added junior tight end Luke Stocker: "You always protect your team, and your team starts with your head coach. He's with us, and we're with him, and we're always going to defend each other, on and off the field."

West said he wasn't bothered by the Vols' first-half aggressiveness, which didn't subside despite an ever-expanding lead.

"I don't take offense to that at all," West said. "He's trying to win the game. It's the same thing I'd be doing. It's our job to stop them."

Crompton's four second-quarter scores gave UT a big enough cushion to relax, Kiffin was clearly bothered by his backups' inability to control the Tigers -- whose starters stayed in the game.

"We lost the fourth quarter for the first time all season, and that was depressing to see," Kiffin said. "It doesn't matter who's in there at the end. We need to play better, and obviously we need to recruit. We're a little down after the game because of the way that we finished."