Morris, defense lead No. 16 Tennessee past No. 8 Kentucky, 34-6
Daune Morris had an 66-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and No. 16 Tennessee’s stifling defense shut down No. 8 Kentucky 34-6 on Saturday night
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Daune Morris had an 66-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and No. 16 Tennessee's stifling defense shut down No. 8 Kentucky 34-6 on Saturday night.
The Volunteers (7-2, 4-2 in Southeastern Conference) are very much alive in the College Football Playoff race. They came in No. 13, while the Wildcats (7-2, 4-2), who had their six-game winning streak snapped, were No. 6.
“The defense had an elite performance,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “It was a tremendous effort, especially the red zone defense (Kentucky reached the red zone twice and settled for two field goals).”
Tennessee had eight tackles for loss and forced three turnovers. Kentucky came into the game with one of the best turnover margins in the country.
“Seven penalties for 50 yards,” Kentucky coach Will Stein said. “We had three turnovers. That was the story of the game — the turnovers.”
Vols linebacker Arion Carter had 13 tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
“(Carter's) sacks changed the game,” said Heupel. “He played violent and destructive.”
“It was one of (my best games at Tennessee),” Carter said. “We don't look at the score. We play every down like it's the last play. We focus on the process. We want to be 1-0 on each play.”
DeSean Bishop rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, both in the second half.
Kentucky's Kenny Minchey threw for 224 yards.
“You can't turn the ball over and expect to win football games,” Minchey said. “There were multiple drives where we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Kentucky was limited to 5 of 12 third-down conversions and 0 of 2 on fourth down.
Morris' 66-yard scoring burst late in the first quarter was the difference in the first half as Tennessee led, 10-6.
The Vols scored 24 straight second-half points to put the game away. The highlight was quarterback Faizon Brandon coming off the bench in spot duty to toss a 24-yard shovel pass to Mike Matthews for a TD.
Kentucky: The Wildcats’ path to the College Football Playoffs just got more difficult. Losing to Tennessee takes away any margin for error they might have had coming into the game. … Neyland Stadium turned out to be a difficult place to play. … The Vols’ aggressive defense caused Kentucky’s offense some problems.
Tennessee: The Vols used motivation from the fact that Alabama, a team they had beaten by 16 points a few weeks ago, was ranked No. 5 in the first College Football Playoff poll. … This was the second “signature” victory Tennessee has gotten this season. … Its loss to South Carolina two weeks ago was a difficult part of the playoff formula.
Kentucky: At Florida on Saturday.
Tennessee: At Texas A&M Saturday.
___
Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.
