KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee needed one snap to take the lead and one big fourth quarter to put away a top-10 rival, beating No. 6 Kentucky 34-6 on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 101,915 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Daune Morris broke loose for a 66-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the game. Kentucky answered with two Adam Zouagui field goals, from 43 and 25 yards, and the 13th-ranked Volunteers clung to a 10-6 lead at the break after a 48-yard kick by Cooper Ranvier.
Ranvier added a 39-yarder in the third quarter. Then Tennessee blew it open with three touchdowns in the fourth. Faizon Brandon found Mike Matthews for a 24-yard scoring pass, and DeSean Bishop ran in twice from 5 yards out to complete a run of 24 unanswered points.
The Vols leaned on the ground game, outrushing Kentucky 240 yards to 137, and the defense kept the Wildcats out of the end zone all night even though Kentucky held the ball for more than 35 minutes.
Both teams are now 7-2. The win was the 80th of Josh Heupel’s head coaching career, 52 of them at Tennessee, and he has never lost to Kentucky in six tries. Tennessee has now won six straight in the series and 39 of the last 42 meetings.
It was also the second straight home win over a top-10 opponent for the Vols, who beat Alabama 26-10 on Oct. 17. Neyland Stadium has now sold out 33 games in a row.
Saturday marked the 122nd meeting between the border rivals, who have played every season since 1933. Tennessee holds an 87-26-9 edge on the field, and this was only the fourth time both programs came in ranked. The Vols have won all four of those matchups, and no opponent has been beaten by Tennessee more often than Kentucky.
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