Vols fall to Bruins

KNOXVILLE -- The Lane Train's offense never left the station Saturday.

A stagnant, turnover-prone offense was too much for the University of Tennessee defense to overcome, as the visiting UCLA Bruins held on for a 19-15 victory in front of 102,239 spectators in Neyland Stadium.

Lane Kiffin's first loss as a college head coach won't be blamed on a defense that held UCLA to 186 yards from scrimmage.

"We had 206 yards or something," said Kiffin, whose Volunteers actually accumulated 208. "That's embarrassing."

The UT defense, which kept the Vols close despite several offensive blunders, made one last big play in the final two minutes. Junior defensive back Dennis Rogan sacked UCLA's Kevin Prince in the end zone for a safety, but UT's offense was stopped on five plays. It got two cracks at fourth down, thanks to an offside penalty.

"We really didn't get into our groove on offense," said Vols quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who was 13-of-26 passing and totaled 85 yards and four turnovers. "And obviously, when you don't, then this is the outcome. The good news is that we were still in the game at the end. We had four turnovers and still just came up 1 yard short."

UT nearly took the lead with 1:59 remaining, but senior tailback Montario Hardesty was stuffed just short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal. The Vols burned two timeouts before Rogan's safety 18 seconds later.

"I would think that any time you have two plays, we should be able to run it with the mentality we have and score," Kiffin said. "That was very discouraging to see."

The Vols (1-1) visit No. 1-ranked, defending national champion Florida this Saturday.

"Obviously, we've got a lot to improve on in the next week," UT All-America safety Eric Berry said.