Vols best Vandy 31-16, become bowl eligible on senior night
It was the perfect ending to a remarkable senior night in Knoxville.
Senior defensive tackle Wes Brown took advantage of a desperation throw by Vanderbilt quarterback Mackenzi Adams, snagging it with one hand and returning it 25 yards to the endzone as time ran out on both the game clock and the seniors’ playing career inside Neyland Stadium. He was immediately dogpiled by the Vols’ entire defensive unit, which clearly understood how fitting an end it was to a game dedicated to the Tennessee seniors.
Nowhere was the post-play jubilance more evident than on the Tennessee sideline, where Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin had his most animated outburst of the season, jumping up and down, fist pumping and playfully shoving quarterback Jonathan Crompton–all with a huge smile on his face.
“What a neat way to end the game on the last play for Wes,” Kiffin said. “You can’t have a guy that’s worked harder since he’s been here and been through more things. The guy can hardly make it to practice every day from drill to drill. To see him just shows you that if you want something bad enough, it can happen. The fact that he can intercept the ball, run like that and carry the guy on his back. Just a really neat story.”
Brown wasn’t the only Vol senior who had a memorable night. Quarterback Jonathan Crompton threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 25 touchdown passes on the year. That number is already good for fourth on Tennessee’s all-time single-season list, and Crompton will have two more games to add to that total. It has clearly been a tale of two halves to the season for Crompton, who has looked like a completely different player in the latter half.
Senior running back Montario Hardesty was the real offensive star for Tennessee saturday night, however, rushing for 171 yards on 32 carries. Both numbers were career-highs for Hardesty, who also scored Tennessee’s first touchdown and went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season.
The combination of Crompton and Hardesty has proven formidable in the second half of the season, and the Vol running back shared some of his thoughts on their relationship together as Volunteers.
“Man, you know, me and Cromp talked before the season and me and him are both from North Carolina,” he said. “I met him at an all-star game and I think he kind of swayed me a little bit to coming to Tennessee. Me and him have both went through a lot of things while being here man and just the way that we’ve been able to battle back this year and just the way that we’ve been able to lead this team was big for both of us, I know. We talk about that all the time, but I’m very proud of him and I know he feels the same way about me.”
Any post-game euphoria must be muted now, however, as the Vols must shift their focus toward the regular season finale against the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington. Though the Vols are already bowl eligible, a win would guarantee a respectable bid, something the Tennessee coaching staff is no doubt aware of.
