Nov. 20, 1999
By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Travis Henry got a chance, Phillip Fulmer got a gameball and Tennessee got back on track.
Filling in for Jamal Lewis, who sat out with a shoulder injury, Henry ranfor 179 yards and three touchdowns as seventh-ranked Tennessee routed Kentucky56-21 Saturday.
The win kept the Volunteers (8-2, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) in contentionfor one of two at-large berths in the Bowl Championship Series and eased someof the hurt from last week’s 28-24 loss at Arkansas, which knocked Tennesseeout of the national championship hunt.
“It was clear why we were here,” said Fulmer, who got his 75th careercoaching win, along with a game ball from his players. “It wasn’t a socialcall. We were here for respect.”
It was the Volunteers’ 15th consecutive win in the 95-game series betweenborder-state rivals and the fourth straight in which they have scored more than50 points against the Wildcats (6-5, 4-4).
Kentucky finished the regular season eligible for a bowl appearance, but notguaranteed an invitation. The Wildcats are among at least eight SEC teamscontending for the conference’s seven guaranteed bowl berths.
“In spite of the catastrophe today, we achieved our team goal,” Kentuckycoach Hal Mumme said. “We are bowl-eligible. We had a winning season.”
Determined to erase memories of last week’s loss to the Razorbacks, whenthey won the statistical battle but lost on the scoreboard, the Volunteersjumped ahead 27-0 with touchdowns on four of their first five possessions.
After Tee Martin’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Cedrick Wilson, Henry scored onruns of 40, 61 and 13 yards.
“We wanted to come out and start fast, let our frustrations out on thefootball field and show we weren’t down after last week,” said Martin, whothrew for 155 yards and two touchdowns. “Everybody thought we were coming intothe game thinking about last week, but we didn’t do that.”
Kentucky scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to close the gap to27-14 at halftime. The Volunteer defense stiffened in the third quarter,though, and Tennessee scored four second-half touchdowns to put the game away.
David Martin caught a 21-yard touchdown from Tee Martin, Tee Martin scoredon a quarterback sneak and freshman running back Onterrio Smith cappedTennessee’s scoring with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs.
Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner completed 32 of 50 passes for 361 yardsand three touchdowns, but was intercepted five times. Kentucky also lost afumble, giving the Wildcats six turnovers leading to four Tennessee touchdowns.
James Whalen Jr. caught one of Bonner’s touchdown passes, while running backAnthony White grabbed the other two, becoming the third player in NCAA historyto finish his career with 1,500 yards rushing and receiving.
For the Volunteers, Henry was a workhorse, handling the ball on 23 of the 24handoffs Tennessee made before he took a seat on the bench late in the thirdquarter.
His 61-yard dash shattered his previous career-long run of 40 yards anddemonstrated the virtue of patience to Henry, who has played behind Lewis thisseason.
“I just told myself when my opportunity comes to just grab it,” he said.”They say good things come to those who wait.”
After the game, Mumme fumed about a pair of first-half pass interferencecalls. The first, on cornerback Kenneth Grant, allowed Tennessee to convert athird-and-7. On the next play, Henry broke his 61-yard run to put theVolunteers ahead 21-0.
On Kentucky’s subsequent possession, a 42-yard catch by Derek Smith thatwould have set the Wildcats up on the Tennessee 1 was nullified by an offensivepass interference call. The Wildcats punted two plays later.
“We had a chance to go into halftime 27-20, but the call really hurt,”Mumme said. “It was a bad call. We got two bad calls against us.”
Both teams were banged up coming in. Kentucky was thin at wide receiver andin the secondary after a rash of injuries in both units, while Fulmer waswithout Lewis and had to move defensive players around to make up for theabsences of starting linebacker Eric Westmoreland and reserve defensive backTad Golden, as well as the limited availability of tackle Darwin Walker.
“I am really proud of our football team for bouncing back after a tough anddisappointing loss,” Fulmer said. “We overcame a bunch of injuries andadversity over the week.”
