Oregon’s Marcus Mariota avoids Tennessee’s LaDarrell McNeil during an NCAA college football game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Bruce Ely)EUGENE, Ore. – The first few turns of the key yielded only the sputter of a powerful engine struggling to start.
Once Oregon’s offensive machine did get going, though, there was little Tennessee could do to stop it.
The second-ranked Ducks rattled off 38 unanswered first-half points after the upstart Volunteers scored the first touchdown of the game, stretched that run to 59 with three third-quarter touchdowns and blitzed their SEC visitors with 687 yards of offense in a 59-14 rout Saturday afternoon at noisy Autzen Stadium.
The 45-point defeat was the largest for Tennessee since a 48-0 loss to Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State) in 1910, and it’s the Vols’ second loss of 40 or more points in the last three years.
“That’s a good team, man,” said Tennessee left tackle Antonio “Tiny” Richardson, who was visibily fuming frustration. “At the end of the day, we’re Tennessee and we’ve got to continue to improve. I’m just [ticked] off right now, man. I just hate losing, man. This is not what we’re about. We’ve just got to continue to come in next week and make the corrections and get ready for Florida.