University of Tennessee Athletics
Volunteers Win Big Over UL-Monroe 70-3
September 23, 2000 | Football
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee found the end zone on Saturday.
A week after settling for five field goals in a last-second loss to Florida, the 13th-ranked Volunteers piled on 10 touchdowns in a 70-3 rout of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
"We had our minds made up that we were going to come out and score touchdowns," said Travis Henry, who ran for two TDs. "We just have to keep coming out and dominating. That's what we did. We finally started scoring in the red zone."
Freshman backup Casey Clausen threw three touchdown passes in his first game and Travis Stephens added two scoring runs as the Vols reached the 70-point mark for the first time since a 73-0 win over Carson-Newman in 1929.
"We are a lot better than we were three weeks ago," Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said. "I believe we are continuing to improve, trying to get healthy and focused. We have a heck of a run coming up."
Tennessee gets into the heart of its Southeastern Conference schedule with games coming up against LSU, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Clausen replaced starter A.J. Suggs after Tennessee built a 21-0 lead 10:31 into the game. Suggs won the starting job from sophomore Joey Mathews, who later sustained a knee injury that has kept him out of the last two games.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Clausen threw a touchdown pass on his first play - a 19-yard hookup with David Martin - as the Vols built up a 49-0 halftime lead.
"It was exciting. It was fun to be out there," Clausen said.
Clausen completed 12-of-15 passes for 133 yards after replacing Suggs in Tennessee's fourth possession. The two shared playing time in the third quarter. Clausen started the fourth quarter and senior walk-on Josh Plemons came on with 6:35 left.
The Tennessee players don't seem to mind who takes the snap as long as scoring is the result.
"The quarterbacks are young but we have faith in them," Eric Parker, who caught a 68-yard TD pass from Suggs, said. "They showed a lot of poise in the pocket. That's what we need them to do."
The Indians stopped Tennessee's first drive when Henry Whitehead intercepted Suggs' pass at the 5 and returned it 20 yards. That was about it for Louisiana-Monroe, which came to town a week after the Vols scored just one TD and lost to Florida 27-23.
"It doesn't take a genius to see where we are. Everytime you looked up, there was a new orange shirt playing against a dirty white one," Louisiana-Monroe coach Bobby Keasler said.
The Vols scored on their next four possessions, then used two blocked punts and a fumble return to build up their huge halftime lead.
Following a blocked punt by Steven Marsh at the Indians 16, Clausen hit Martin in the corner of the end zone with a 19-yard pass to give Tennessee a 28-0 lead.
Clausen had an inflamed rotator cuff in his throwing arm and did not throw for two weeks in August. He was not cleared to play in Tennessee's season opener against Southern Mississippi but was ready last week for Florida. Suggs played the entire game against the Gators.
Suggs, who finished 8-of-16 for 141 yards, connected with Parker on a 68-yard TD pass that put the Vols up 21-0 with 4:29 left in the first quarter.
Tennessee punted on its first two possessions of the third quarter. On the second, David Leaverton shanked the punt, giving Louisiana-Monroe the ball at the Tennessee 19. The Indians came away with a 33-yard field goal by Daniel Francis.
Clausen led Tennessee on a 57-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession capped by Cedric Wilson' 9-yard catch as the third quarter ended.
Clausen did it again on Tennessee's next possession, hitting Wilson with a 22-yard TD pass to make it 63-3 with 11:13 to go.
Leonard Scott's 45-yard TD run with 4:28 remaining that completed the scoring tied a record for Tennessee's most touchdowns in one game set in 1951 in the Vols' 68-0 win over Tennessee Tech.
Alex Walls set a school record with 10 extra points.
Tennessee scored its first touchdown on Henry's 1-yard run and then scored 21 seconds later on a fumble return.
Henry scored his second 1-yard touchdown with 11:12 to go in the second quarter after Jabari Greer blocked Steve Hunnicutt's punt and recovered the ball at the Louisiana-Monroe 8.
The two blocked punts was the most for Tennessee in one game since two against Kentucky in 1986. Hunnicutt, a freshman, also had a blocked punt at Memphis two weeks ago that led to a TD.
Stephens scored Tennessee's final two TDs of the first half on runs of 15 and 1 yards.
