University of Tennessee Athletics
SEC Championship Postgame Notes
December 08, 2001 | Football
Dec. 8, 2001
Recap?|? Box Score?|? Quotes?|? Photo Gallery
LSU Defeats Vols 31-20 in SEC Championship Game
? Tennessee falls to 10-2, while LSU improves to 9-3 ... The Tigers claim their first SEC title since 1988
? Tennessee played in its third SEC Championship Game in five seasons tonight ... The Vols won the 1997 (30-29 vs. Auburn) and 1998 (24-14 vs. Miss. State) SEC title games ... UT is 2-1 in Atlanta's Georgia Dome
? Tennessee achieved its 17th 10-win season and sixth under head coach Phillip Fulmer this year
? UT leads the series 19-5-3 ... UT leads 11-1-1 at Knoxville, 7-3-2 at Baton Rouge and 1-1 at a neutral site (1972 Bluebonnet Bowl)
? Entering tonight, UT won its last seven games in as many weeks, including wins at Alabama, Notre Dame and Florida
? The Vols entered the game ranked No. 2 (Coaches) and in AP and No. 2 in this week's BCS rankings-the highest ranking for the Vols since Sept. 12, 1999
Tennessee has won 13 SEC Championships, second only to Alabama's 21 league titles ... The Vols have won SEC Championships in the following seasons: 1938-39-40-46-51-56-67-69-85-89-90-97-98.
Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer is the nation's winningest active head coach...Following tonight's game, Fulmer has a 94-20 (.825) mark now in his 10th season at his alma mater ... Fulmer has a 25-5 mark against teams from the SEC West, including a 2-1 mark in the SEC Championship Game ... He ranks No. 8 on the SEC's all-time victories list with 61 regular season league wins.
QB Casey Clausen completed 17-of-25 for a season-high 332 yards and 2 touchdown tonight ...Clausen's previous season-high was against LSU in the Vols 26-18 win at Knoxville ... For the season Clausen completed 227-of-354 passes for 2969 yards and 22 touchdowns ...He completed 106-of-168 (.631) for 1361 yards with 14 TDs and 3 interception the past five games.
Clausen's two touchdown passes tonight moved him to second on the Vols' all-time list ... Clausen has now thrown for 37 touchdown passes during his UT career, passing Heath Shuler and Andy Kelly who both had 36 ... Peyton Manning holds UT's all-time record with 89 touchdown passes. Clausen is now 16-3 as a starter at quarterback for the Vols, including a 12-2 mark in SEC games ... He has a 11-2 mark as the Vols' QB when throwing for at least 200 yards (7-2 in 2001) ...
RB Travis Stephens set Tennessee's single-season rushing mark tonight ... The SEC's leading rusher, Stephens rushed for 1464 yards this season (122.0/game), passing Jay Graham's mark of 1,438 yards in 1995 ... He had 37 yards on 14 carries tonight ... On UT's career rushing charts, Stephens finishes at No. 8 with 2336 yards.
WR Kelley Washington caught nine passes for 140 yards tonight and one touchdown ... Washington moved to No. 4 on the Vols' single-season reception yardage list with 1010 and to No. 4 on UT's single-season reception list with 64 catches ... Washington set a single-game school record with 256 yards (11 receptions) against the Tigers in the season's first meeting in Knoxville ...Tonight's game was the third time this season Washington has amassed at least 100 receiving yards...In two games against LSU this season, Washington amassed 396 yards on 20 catches and two TDs.
PK Alex Walls set an SEC Championship Game record with a 51-yard field goal in the second quarter ... Walls' 51-yarder equaled his career long (1999 vs. S. Carolina) and broke the previous SEC title game record (48 yards) set by Alabama's Ryan Pflugner ... Walls, who kicked two field goals tonight (51, 21), has connected on nine of his last 10 field goal attempts ... His previous season-long 44 yards at Kentucky.
Tennessee entered tonight's game with just 7 fumbles lost, gave up two fumbles in the second half in tonight's game ... The Vols' second fumble led to LSU's final touchdown after a 13-play, 65 yard drive that ate 6:04 ... UT had season-lows tonight in rushing attempts (18) and rushing yards (50) ... UT outgained LSU 382-285, but the Tigers had no turnovers and held the upper hand in time of possession (34:21-25:39).
Tennessee finishes the season as the SEC's leader in quarterback sacks with for the second consecutive year ... The Vols, who had two sacks tonight, end the year with 34 quarterback sacks.
TENNESSEE DEFENSIVE BIG PLAYS
Tackle for Loss: (4) 1-Veal (-8), 1-E. Moore (-3), 1-Stevenson (-2), 1-Burnett (-4)
Sacks: (2) 1-Veal (-8), 1-E. Moore (-3),
Passes Broken Up: (3) 1-R. Moore, 1-Baker, 1-E. Moore, 1-Battle
Interceptions: (0)
Fumble Caused: (0)
Fumble Recovered: (0)
? Sacks included in Tackle for Loss stats
