University of Tennessee Athletics
UT-MSU Game Notes
October 13, 2007 | Football
Noting Tennessee
- Tennessee improves to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the SEC. Mississippi State falls to 4-3 and 1-2 in the SEC.
- The Vols entered the game ranked 25th in the Associated Press poll and unranked but receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches??? poll; Mississippi State was unranked.
- Tennessee returns to action Oct. 21 when it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff time will be either 11:30 a.m. CT or 2:30 p.m. CT, depending on which television network carries the game (Lincoln Financial or CBS).
- Today???s contest marked the 43rd meeting between Tennessee and Mississippi State. The Vols now lead the series 27-15-1 (.639).
- UT now owns a 5-4 advantage in games played in Starkville, giving the Vols an advantage in all four cities in which games in this series have taken place (12-7-4 in Knoxville, 9-4-1 in Memphis and 1-0 in Atlanta).
- Today marked the first meeting between UT head coach Phillip Fulmer and fourth-year Bulldogs head coach Sylvester Croom.
- Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer???s record now stands at 141-43 (.766) in 16 seasons with the Vols.
- Fulmer owns an 89-28 regular-season record against SEC opponents, including a 33-10 mark against Western Division teams.
- Today???s win gave Fulmer solo grasp of eighth place on the SEC???s all-time coaching wins list.
- Fulmer is now 13-1 against teams from the state of Mississippi.
- Senior quarterback Erik Ainge now owns a 21-8 record as a starter, including a 10-3 mark on the road.
- Ainge???s 51-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Taylor in the second quarter tied him with former Auburn signal caller Pat Sullivan for 19th place on the SEC???s all-time passing touchdowns list. Ainge is one of three Vols in the league???s all-time top 20.
- Ainge today moved past former UT quarterback Andy Kelly (1988-91) into third place on the school???s all-time list for total offense. Ainge???s 6,527 career yards of total offense trail only Casey Clausen (9,577 from 2000-03) and Peyton Manning (11,020 from 1994-97).
- Junior wide receiver Lucas Taylor racked up a career-high 186 receiving yards today that marked the highest receiving total by a Vol since 2002 (see chart on right).
- Taylor hauled in passes of 32, 51 (TD), 26 and 24 yards and leads the Vols this season in both catches (41) and receiving yardage (618).
- When Erik Ainge hit Taylor for a 51-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter, the play marked the longest reception of Taylor???s career and the longest completion of the season for Ainge.
- With his first-quarter touchdown catch that opened UT???s scoring, senior tight end Chris Brown extended his streak of games with at least one catch to nine. That ties fellow senior Brad Cottam (injured) for the second-longest streak by a Vols tight end during the Fulmer era (1992-present). Current Dallas Cowboys All-Pro tight end Jason Witten caught a pass in 17 consecutive games from 2001-02.
- Brown leads the Vols in touchdown catches this season with five. Only tailback Arian Foster (eight) has more total touchdowns this year.
- Junior tailback Arian Foster logged his seventh career 100-yard rushing game today, totaling 139 yards on 21 carries. It was his third-best career single-game rushing total. He also added one touchdown to bring his career total to 18 (UT???s active career leader).
- Foster today also moved into 17th place on Tennessee???s career rushing list with 1,735 yards.
- Tennessee???s offense has allowed no quarterbacks sacks since the second game of the season and has allowed just two on the year. The Vols lead the FBS in sacks allowed.
- Starting quarterback Erik Ainge has been sacked just once this year. He has attempted 218 straight passes without being sacked. His only sack came against California in the season-opener in what would have been his third pass attempt of the game.
- The Vols average one sack allowed for every 114 pass attempt this season.
- Sophomore linebacker Rico McCoy led the Vols today with nine tackles
- Freshman cornerback Brent Vinson had a career-high five tackles today. Sophomore cornerback Marsalous Johnson (five) and freshman linebacker Savion Frazier (four) also posted career-highs in tackles.
- Senior free safety Jonathan Hefney recorded his 250th career tackle today and now has 253 for his career.
- Today???s attendance was 50,217.
- Tennessee???s game captains today were seniors Erik Ainge, Jonathan Hefney, Xavier Mitchell and Antonio Reynolds and juniors Ramon Foster and Lucas Taylor.
- The Vols set season-highs today in rushing yards (211), offensive plays (78) and penalty yards (72 on a season-high-tying seven penalties).
- Redshirt freshman placekicker Daniel Lincoln???s career-opening streak of perfect kicks ended today. The Ocala, Fla., native made his first eight field-goal tries and his first 23 extra points before a wide-left, 26-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter marked the first missed kick of his career. He responded moments later with a 47-yard field goal that gave UT a 17-14 halftime lead. Lincoln added field goals of 29, 26 and 43 yards in the second half to bring his season points total to 60.
- Tennessee has scored a touchdown on its opening drive in four of six games this season. Today???s game was the first this year in which UT scored a touchdown on its first possession of the second half.
- Since the SEC split into divisions in 1992, Tennessee has the best interdivision record in the league, going 33-11-1 (.744) against Western Division opponents.
- Tennessee improved to 36-0 all-time in pay-per-view games, including a 26-0 record under Phillip Fulmer.
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Saturday, April 11
