LEXINGTON, Ky. - The statistics were what they were.
In Tennessee's 45-42 topping of Kentucky on Saturday night at Kroger Field, the Volunteers yielded 612 yards on 99 plays as the Wildcats converted 12 of 17 third-down opportunities and gobbled up 46 minutes and eight seconds of possession time. The Vols now rank 126th among the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in third-down defense, allowing a 48.4% success rate, and are dead last in possession time, with their defense on the field for 35:57 per game.
Finding positives other than Alontae Taylor's 56-yard interception return for a touchdown midway through the third quarter might seem futile, but the fourth quarter did provide a few.
Tennessee recorded all three of its lost-yardage stops in the final 15 minutes, and Kentucky's final four plays were Will Levis incomplete passes. The Wildcats also lost the ball on downs twice during the final quarter, which had Vols first-year coach Josh Heupel praising the perseverance of his defenders.
"They have a competitive nature and a competitive composure, too," Heupel said. "Whether something positive or negative happened on the previous drive, they have the ability to come back over and reset. It's something we talk about and we try to train, but for them to do it in this moment against a really good football team on the road speaks to who they are and what they are becoming as a unit.
"I'm really proud of the way they ended the ballgame. I would rather not give up the fourth-and-extra-long there, but I loved their ability to reset and go finish it the next four plays."
Heupel added that a bust in coverage resulted in Levis converting a fourth-and-24 with a 28-yard pass to Izayah Cummings to the Tennessee 38 before the four straight incompletions, but the Vols somehow strengthened despite being on the field all night. They showed similar improvement defensively in the late going during losses to Pittsburgh and Ole Miss, holding the Rebels scoreless in the final quarter.
Junior edge rusher Bryce Young had two of Tennessee's three late sacks, with sophomore Tyler Baron collecting the other.
"We had been rotating a little bit throughout the course of the ballgame, and obviously we played a bunch of plays on the defensive side of the football," Heupel said. "I thought the pressure we were able to get on that last sequence of plays was the difference in the game. A lot of it was with pressure, and I thought our guys did a great job of executing and bottling him up.
"Typically, at the end, we had a guy coming free to where he wasn't able to sit back there and had to get the football out of his hands. Byron did a good job in that sequence, but he really did a good job all night long."
When Taylor was asked about his laborious night on the field, he said: "When your number is called, you've got to go out there and make plays. We stuck together and made the plays whenever we could."
The Vols (5-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) will have to stick together this week as 19.5-point underdogs to top-ranked Georgia (9-0, 7-0) at Neyland Stadium. CBS will televise the 3:30 p.m. game.
That crazy start
The first snap of Saturday's game resulted in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Hooker to JaVonta Payton, and the Vols' fourth offensive play was a 72-yard scoring strike from Hooker to Velus Jones.
"I don't know that we thought those first four plays would gain that type of yardage," Heupel said. "There were some things we thought we could take advantage of, and we had a really high level of execution from guys without the ball in their hands, which allowed those big plays to happen. Our third series had some big plays, too, and we ended up fumbling the football.
"When it was going really well, I thought up front in particular that we recognized things and we blocked things extremely well."
Of course, the Vols had the ball for just four plays in the opening quarter, taking a 14-7 lead with 150 yards and just 37 seconds of possession time. So what did Hooker do for the other 14:23 of the first frame?
"It was just a lot of warmup balls on the sideline," he said. "When we were on the field, we were just trying to be efficient and make plays."
AP photo by Michael Clubb / Tennessee freshman Jaylen Wright carried the Vols' running game late in Saturday's win at Kentucky.The Wright stuff
Tennessee freshman running back Jaylen Wright had seven carries for 50 yards, all in the fourth quarter.
"He's a guy who's been banged up a little bit and has worked himself back in," Heupel said. "This week, he finally got in a position to where he was healthy. Not playing a lot early, it's hard to get thrown in there during the middle of the game, and I thought he adjusted to the speed of it and made some really good decisions.
"He did a great job of taking care of the football, too."
Tillman's patience
While Payton and Jones had lengthy touchdowns early, Cedric Tillman wound up leading the Vols with six receptions. Tillman's catches netted 79 yards and included a 6-yard score that gave Tennessee a 45-35 lead with 11:40 left.
"You know what I love about Ced is that early in the football game and the way things unfolded, he didn't have a lot of opportunities," Heupel said. "There was no 'I' in his game. He was really calm and was a great teammate all night long. When he got his opportunities, he made the most of them. He had the huge sequence with the ball down the sideline and then the corner route on the touchdown."
Said Jones: "Ced is a competitor who made so many strides from spring ball to fall camp. If it's in the air, he's going to get it. He's a special guy."
AP photo by Michael Club / Tennessee football fans celebrate Saturday night at Kentucky's Kroger Field. The Vols' win in Lexington put them back above .500 overall at 5-4 and evened their SEC record at 3-3 in Josh Heupel's first season as coach.Odds and ends
Johnny Majors lost his first game against Kentucky as Tennessee's coach in 1977, but Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, Jeremy Pruitt and now Heupel have since defeated the Wildcats in their first attempt. ... Heupel on players continuing to fake injuries: "We've moved the football with tempo, and guys end up finding a way to go down. It allows for substitutions to happen or to just change the momentum of the football game." ... Jones on his coach in the locker room celebration: "Coach Heup has got some moves on him."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.