University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee-Duke Game Preview
October 27, 2003 | Football
Oct. 27, 2003
| QUICK FACTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duke (2-6) at Tennessee (5-2)
RADIO RANKINGS THE COACHES: Duke Blue Devils | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FEATURES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GAME NOTES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TENNESSEE AT A GLANCE
TENNESSEE-DUKE SERIES
Tennessee and Duke will be meeting for the 29th time with the series, which began in 1893, knotted at 13-13-2. Tennessee has won the last two meetings, equalling its longest winning streak in the series. The teams last met in Knoxville in 1993 when the Vols posted their largest margin of victory over the Blue Devils, 52-19. Tennessee leads the series in Knoxville, 10-7. The last seven meetings between the schools have been played at Neyland Stadium. The teams met on a regular basis from 1931-56, playing 20 times with the squads splitting the meetings 9-9-2. In fact, the scoring in the series is nearly even as well with UT outscoring Duke 427-408 in the 28 contests. There have been seven shutouts and one scoreless tie in the series. Tennessee is 84-54-7 all-time against the teams that comprise the Atlantic Coast Conference (11-5-2 vs. Clemson, 13-13-2 vs. Duke, 1-1 vs. Florida State, 24-17-2 vs. Georgia Tech, 5-3 vs. Maryland, 20-10-1 vs. North Carolina, 1-1 vs. North Carolina State, 6-3 vs. Wake Forest, 3-1 vs. Virginia.) The 145 games played versus ACC teams are the most Tennessee has played against any other conference. UT head coach Phillip Fulmer is 1-0 against Duke and 2-1 versus ACC teams. A win over Duke would give Tennessee a winning record versus 106 of its 128 all-time opponents. HOMECOMING ON THE HILL The Vols are hosting Duke for the sixth time on Homecoming, going 4-1 in the previous five meetings. UT and the Blue Devils played on Homecoming in 1932, 1934, 1936, 1947 and 1993. Duke is tied with Vanderbilt as the fourth-most common Homecoming opponent, trailing Ole Miss (10), Alabama (7) and Memphis (7). VOLS RULE NOVEMBER The streak began on Nov. 2, 1985 against Rutgers and went 21 straight games before No. 1 Notre Dame knocked off the Vols at home in 1990, 34-29. The streak picked up again as UT won 20 consecutive November games until Memphis upset the Volunteers in 1996, 21-17. A 13-game November streak followed until 1999 when Arkansas edged Tennessee, 28-24. UT then reeled off 11 consecutive wins until No. 1 Miami downed the Vols 26-3 in 2002. UT is coming off two straight November shutouts against Vanderbilt and Kentucky last year by identical 24-0 scores. The Vols have posted 12 shutouts in November since 1985. NON-CONFERENCE DOMINANCE
UT SPORTS SEC'S BEST RECORD SINCE 1998 The Volunteers have also compiled a 34-10 record in conference games during that stretch, winning two Eastern Division titles and one overall league crown. Going back 10-plus years, the Vols are second in the league to Florida (107) with 103 wins.
CLAUSEN ACCOUNTS FOR FIVE SCORES IN UT'S WIN OVER TIDE; NAMED SEC'S OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK The four TD passes were one shy of his personal best and school record-tying five done twice, and the most since throwing four at Kentucky in 2001. It was the fifth time in his career he had at least four TD passes in a game. His 1-yard scoring plunge and two-point conversion pass in the fifth overtime against the Tide put the Vols ahead for good. It was his first rushing tally since the South Carolina game last year and the fifth of his career. CLAUSEN GUIDING VOLS Clausen is third in the SEC at 225.9 yards passing per game, fourth in total offense at 220.7 yards per game and sixth in passing efficiency at 133.5. He has thrown at least one touchdown pass in each game, marking his longest streak to start a season. He owns the third-longest streak in school history of 12. He has thrown at least two touchdown passes in five of the seven games. Against Auburn, when he passed for a season-high 355 yards, he connected on seven passes of at least 20 yards while tying his career-best of 30 completions on a career-high 47 attempts. The 355 yards was the third-best effort of his career and his fifth 300-yard passing game. It was his first 300-yard passing game since throwing for a career-high 393 yards against Michigan in 2002 Florida Citrus Bowl. Clausen threw for 235 yards against the Gators, including connecting on two of his longest pass plays of the season. He hit James Banks on a 48-yard touchdown on the last play of the first half and then hooked up with freshman Bret Smith for a 57-yard gain in the third quarter, setting up UT's second touchdown. For the season, Clausen has hit on seven passing plays of at least 30 yards, including a school-record 90-yard touchdown against Georgia. CLAUSEN GOES FOR 30TH CAREER WIN AS STARTER Clausen has 23 career 200-yard passing games, including four this season. His season-high 355-yard effort against Auburn was the third-best of his career. He ranks fourth in the SEC in career completion percentage (min. 300 completions) at 62.0, fifth in lowest percentage of interceptions (min. 600 attempts) at 2.69, 12th in SEC in career total offense yards per game at 210.2, 10th in the SEC in career touchdown passes with 63, 11th in career passing yards with 8320 and 11th in pass completions with 670. He is among the highest-rated passers in SEC history, ranking fifth with a mark of 140.63. Clausen is one of 11 league quarterbacks with at least 60 scoring strikes, while six have at least 70. He is the second quarterback at UT to throw 60 scoring aerials in a career, joining Peyton Manning who had 89. Clausen has accounted for 68 total touchdowns in his career, which is 11th in the SEC. He needs three more to enter the top 10. CLAUSEN NOTES
BANKS: VOLS' GO TO MAN Banks finished the Alabama game with a career-high 103 yards on a season-high tying seven catches with two touchdowns in overtime with a two-point conversion. His 20 points against Alabama is the most by a UT player since Jamal Lewis scored 24 against Kentucky in 1997. He scored his first touchdown of the game on his first play from the quarterback position this season as he sprinted up the middle for 25 yards to give Tennessee a 10-6 lead. He leads the club with seven catches of more than 20 yards. He has been on the receiving end of three of the six long touchdown pass plays and is the only Vol with more than one reception over 30 yards. Banks, along with Troy Fleming, are the only Vols to catch a pass in every game. Banks has four games of at least 70 yards receiving and ranks sixth in the SEC with 4.3 receptions per game and ninth at 58.9 yards per game.
COLQUITT: SEC'S LEADING PUNTER Thanks to Colquitt's booming punts, along with excellent placement and a great punt coverage team, Tennessee leads the SEC and is fourth in the nation in net punting with a 42.5-yard average. The Vols have allowed 19 punt returns for 141 yards (7.4-yard average). Colquitt has twice been named the SEC's Special Teams Player of the Week. His most recent honor came after the South Carolina game when he had a career-high five punts of 50 yards or more for a 51.7-yard average, including a 63-yarder. Even more impressive was the fact that he placed four of his seven boots inside the 20 with three settling inside the 5-yard line. He forced the Gamecocks to start consecutive drives on their 2 and 1-yard lines respectively in the third quarter. He first earned the honor following UT's win over Marshall when he punted four times for a 50.8 average, with two punts of 50-plus yards, including a 63 yarder. He pinned Marshall deep twice, turning the field position battle in UT's favor. He placed two punts inside the 20, one at the Marshall four and three yard lines, respectively. His numbers over the last six games are staggering. For instance: Against Florida he placed two punts inside the 10 and three of the six kicks inside the 20 with a season-long boot of 67 yards, one yard shy of his career high of 68 yards set versus Miami last year. Over the last two seasons, Colquitt has averaged 44.61 yards per punt. His career average of 42.97 ranks second all-time at UT, while he has pinned opponents deep by placing 48 of 156 punts (30.7 percent) inside the 20. He has 39 punts of 50 yards or more in his career. Four times in his career he has had three punts in a game over 50 yards (Memphis & Kentucky 2001, Miami 2002, South Carolina 2003). He has had at least one 50-yard punt in 15 of the last 17 games. VOLS TIE RECORD WITH TWO BLOCKED FIELD GOALS The two blocked placements ties the record set against Notre Dame in 1991 as Floyd Miley and Jeremy Lincoln combined to snuff out the attempts.
KEEPING UP WITH Mark Jones Jones is UT's second-leading receiver in terms of yards, leading the club with a 16.7 yards per catch average. He is also fourth on the team with 50 yards rushing and is second with eight punt returns for a 10.2-yard average. Defensively, he has 10 tackles with one interception. Against Georgia, Jones mustered up enough strength to steal the ball away from a Bulldog defender on a Casey Clausen pass and race 90 yards for a touchdown, setting a school record for the longest pass reception in school history. It bettered the 87-yard effort in 1991 when Andy Kelly hooked up with Carl Pickens against Auburn. It was the 14th pass play of at least 80 yards in school history and the first since Clausen hit Donte' Stallworth for an 80-yard scoring strike versus Vanderbilt in 2001. Jones had 117 yards receiving on four catches against the Bulldogs, recording the first 100-yard receiving game of the season by a Vol and the first since Kelley Washington had 112 against Arkansas last season. Against Fresno State, he caught one pass for 12 yards while returning five punts for 56 yards. Jones made at least one big play in each quarter during that game. He made a touchdown-aving tackle on a punt return, took Fresno out of field goal range by forcing an intentional grounding on a blitz, made an open field tackle on third down and set up UT's final points with a 29-yard punt return. His versatility really came through against Florida as he intercepted his third career pass at the UT 31, stopping a Gator drive. He also had the longest run of the day on a 24-yard reverse. ORANGE ZONE SUCCESS Their touchdown success rate is 69.6 percent, up from last season's 47.8 percent. VOLS POUND THE ROCK UT is averaging 4.0 yards per carry and has scored a rushing touchdown in six of the seven games. After running for 497 yards on 84 carries (5.9 yards per rush) and two scores in the first two contests, the Vols have six rushing touchdowns over the last five games while averaging 106.0 yards per game. They have 13 runs of over 20 yards, which is one shy of last season's total. Cedric Houston has five and Jabari Davis has three.
HOUSTON EDGES CLOSER TO UT'S TOP 20 He has rushed for over 80 yards four times with back-to-back 100-yard efforts to start the season. Houston posted a career-high 161 yards against Fresno State and then followed with 160 yards versus Marshall. Tennessee's big play back has five runs of over 20 yards in seven games, equalling his total from last year. Houston scored his only touchdown of the season on a 3-yard run to give the Vols a 14-7 lead over South Carolina. It was his first tally since the Vanderbilt game last season, a span of seven contests. Houston's 321 yards in the first two games ranked second in UT history behind Johnnie Jones' 400-yard effort to start the 1984 season. Against Fresno State, he carried the ball 19 times without being tackled for a loss. He did most of his damage in the first quarter as he ran for 95 yards on 10 attempts, with long runs of 20 and 25 on UT's second possession. Versus Marshall he had his breakout quarter in the third when he rushed for 102 yards on 10 carries with runs of 50 and 35 yards. He accounted for 74 in the Vols' 80-yard TD drive to open the second half. Houston posted five 100-yard rushing games in 2002, including reeling off four straight versus South Carolina, Miami, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. He has seven career 100-yard games with six coming in his last 13 games dating back to last season. With three more 100-yard rushing games, Houston can become one of Vols with at least 10 career 100-yard games. Travis Henry tops the list with 15, Jay Graham had 14, while Jamal Lewis and Johnnie Jones had 13. Reggie Cobb and James Stewart are tied for fifth with 10. RECEIVING CORPS STEPPING UP Here are some quick notes on the receivers. The receivers kicked it into high gear against Auburn, hauling in 30 passes for 355 yards. Leading the way was sophomore Chris Hannon who was one of three Vols to post career highs. Hannon had five catches for 95 yards and one touchdown. He had three receptions for more than 20 yards, including a career-long 28-yard touchdown that was longer that his previous career-best of 26 yards against Wyoming last year. Entering the Auburn game, Hannon had four career catches for 47 yards. Tony Brown recorded a career-high in receiving yards against Auburn with 78 yards on five catches which bettered the 77 he had versus Wyoming in 2002. TINSLEY REAPPEARS CAMPBELL PICKS SECOND PASS DEFENSIVE QUICK NOTES Jason Allen blocked UT's second kick of the year as he thwarted a field goal attempt by Alabama. It was the first field goal block since Rutgers last year. Marvin Mitchell's first career blocked punt on South Carolina's first possession set the Vols up at the Gamecock 10 for their first score of the game. He was the first Vol to block a punt since Jason Mitchell recorded the feat in last season's Middle Tennessee game. UT's defensive unit shined in the opener against Fresno State by limiting the Bulldogs to minus-1 yards rushing and just 117 yards in total offense. The six points scored by FSU came on an interception return for a touchdown. The last time the Vols held an opponent to minus net yards rushing was against Florida in 1998 when the Gators were limited to minus-13 yards. It was just the seventh time in school history an opponent was held to minus net yards rushing. UP NEXT MEDICAL UPDATE ? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Tennessee Volunteers opened the second half of the season with a 51-43 five-overtime win over the Alabama Crimson Tide, snapping a two-game losing streak. Tennessee has played in two of the three longest overtime games in SEC history. UT went six overtimes in defeating Arkansas in 2002.
