Lexington, KY – A goal-line stand on fourth-and-goal by the Tennessee Vols football defense sealed a 17-13 Tennessee victory over the Kentucky at Kroger Field on Saturday night.
After Tennessee stifled three consecutive Wildcat runs from inside the 6-yard line, Kentucky quarterback Lynn Bowden Jr. ran for the end zone on fourth-down and was stopped by the Vols’ Daniel Bituli and Ja’Quain Blakely with 1:17 remaining.
Led by redshirt junior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, Tennessee (5-5, 3-3 SEC) came back from a 13-0 first-half deficit to win – the largest deficit that a Tennessee team has overcome to win since Sept. 4, 2017 against Georgia Tech.
Guarantano came off the bench to start the second half under center and engineered back-to-back touchdown drives in the third quarter, completing his first seven passes in the process.
Marquez Callaway collected 104 yards and one touchdown through the air, his third 100-yard reception game of the season. Josh Palmer had a season-high-tying 55 receiving yards and caught his first touchdown of the season.
The defense held the Wildcats to 327 yards of total offense, collecting a pair of sacks and an interception.
Daniel Bituli led all players in tackles, collecting a season-high 19 stops.
Kentucky opened the game with a 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took more than 10 minutes off the clock, capped off by an Asim Rose two-yard run. After blocking a Tennessee punt, UK scored again on a 22-yard run from Kavosiey Smoke.
Vols’ defensive lineman Darel Middleton blocked the extra point attempt to keep the Wildcat lead at 13-0 with 2:28 left in the first quarter.
Tennessee’s first points came in the second quarter via an 11-play, 71-yard drive capped by a Brent Cimaglia 26-yard field goal.
With Kentucky driving late in the second quarter, senior Nigel Warrior intercepted his fourth pass this season, returning it to UT’s 46-yard line.
The defense followed UT’s scoring drive by forcing a UK three-and-out, capped by a Darrell Taylor sack.
The next drive, UT would take its first lead of the night as Guarantano and Josh Palmer connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to put the Vols up 17-13. Guarantano went five-for-five on the seven-play, 68-yard drive.
The defense would go on to hold off UK for the second-straight drive. On fourth-and-six, Matthew Butler sacked UK quarterback Lynn Bowden for a loss of six yards to give UT the ball.
With UK driving late in the fourth quarter, the defense forced an incompletion on fourth-and-three to give the ball back to the offense.
