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Washington Leads No. 7 Vols Past Tigers, 26-18Washington Leads No. 7 Vols Past Tigers, 26-18

Washington Leads No. 7 Vols Past Tigers, 26-18

Washington Leads No. 7 Vols Past Tigers, 26-18

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Rohan Davey threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns, but it was not enough to stop Tennessee Volunteers and wide receiver Kelley Washington who caught 11 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. Tennessee beat LSU 26-18 in front of the largest crowd to watch an LSU football game, 108,472.

LSU fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in Southeastern Conference play. Tennessee remained perfect on the season at 3-0 and 2-0 in SEC play.

Davey attempted a career-high 43 passes, completing 21 for two touchdowns without an interception. He was not thrown an interception in 121 pass attempts and has a 17-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio since the final game of the 1999 season.

Josh Reed caught seven passes for 125 yards, while true freshman Michael Clayton caught three passes for 93 yards. Although he struggled running the ball after getting a hip pointer in the first quarter, LaBrandon Toefield caught a career high four passes for 50 yards.

Tennessee held LSU to only 29 net yards rushing on 20 attempts while piling on 139 yards on 49 carries of their own. Running back Travis Stephens led the Vols with 95 yards rushing on 34 carries.

Tennessee possessed the ball for a total of 35:40, including 22:11 of the 30-minute second half.

A 67-yard strike from quarterback Rohan Davey to Clayton gave the Tigers a 7-6 halftime lead over the Vols. The pass came on the first play of the Tigers’ second drive, as Davey hit Clayton in stride some 30 yards past the line of scrimmage without a defender in sight.

In the second quarter, Tennessee (3-0, 2-0 SEC) answered with two field goals by placekicker Alex Walls from 42 (13:55 remaining) and 44 yards (5:31) to cut the Tigers’ lead to a single point at the break.

The Tigers drove the ball down the field with relative ease on the first drive of the game, as Davey hooked up with Jerel Myers for 29 yards on the second play from scrimmage. However, with second-and-6 at the 17-yard line, Davey fumbled the ball after being sacked by Keyon Whiteside on the Tennessee 29-yard line.

To open the second half, Tennessee drove 82 yards in 16 plays for a 3-yard touchdown run by Clausen to take a 12-7 lead. The two-point conversion attempt was foiled when Lionel Thomas broke up a pass at the 1-yard line. The drive lasted 7:20.

The Vols tacked on another score less than five minutes later, as Washington caught a 70-yard touchdown pass between two LSU defenders. The reception was the longest allowed by the Tigers since an 82-yard touchdown pass from Wayne Madkin to Terrell Grindele against Mississippi State in the 2000 season.

After the Tigers were outgained 152-16 in the third quarter, Tennessee once again scored on its opening drive of the fourth quarter. The Vols traveled 70 yards on 10 plays in 3:27. Travis Stephens jumped over the line for a 1-yard touchdown run.

LSU faught back with a score drive of its own with just under 11 minutes left in the game, as Josh Reed hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Davey. The touchdown was Reed’s first of the season and moved him ahead of Eddie Kennison for ninth place on the all-time LSU receiving yards list with 1,568.

With less than five minutes to play, Davey drove the Tigers 72 yards on nine plays but couldn’t hammer the ball into the endzone on three tries from the 8-yard line. LSU was forced to settle for a 25-yard Corbello field goal to pull the Tigers within eight points.

Tennessee took over with 3:02 remaining in the game and LSU had all three timeouts. However, the Tigers were forced to burn a timeout on Tennessee’s first play from scrimmiage at their 24-yard line when a Vol receiver went uncovered by the defensive formation. After a short rush and LSU’s second timeout, Tennessee threw an incomplete pass before calling a timeout of its own on third-and-9 from its 25-yardline. A 30-yard strike from Clausen to Washington was the final blow, as LSU didn’t receive the ball back until only 30 seconds remained in the game.

Davey took LSU down to the Tennessee 40-yardline with 0:05 remaining in the game, but a “Hail Mary” pass from Davey to two Tiger receivers in the back of the endzone was batted away.

LSU returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 2:30 p.m. against the Florida Gators in Baton Rouge. The game will be nationally televised by CBS.

No. 7/8 Tennessee (3-0, 2-0 SEC) def. No. 14 LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC)
26-18
Sept. 29, 2001
Knoxville, Tenn.
ESPN, 7:45 EDT

Postgame Notes

  • The announced crowd of 108,472 was the largest audience to watch the LSU football team in school history. The previous record of 91,782 was set on Sept. 1, 2001, when the Tigers defeat Tulane in the season opener, 48-17, in Baton Rouge’s Tiger Stadium. The previous road attendance record was also set in Knoxville on Sept. 25, 1993, when 95,931 watched Tennessee defeat LSU, 42-20. The crowd was the second-largest in Neyland Stadium history.
  • Tonight’s game was the Tigers’ fourth road game with more than 90,000 in attendance: Tennessee in 1988 (92,849) and 1993 (95,931), and Ohio State in 1988 (90,584).
  • The 21-day layoff between games was the longest in the modern era of LSU football, and the longest since 1907. LSU had 25 days off between the Baylor and Havana (Cuba) games that year, winning both games. LSU played for the first time since a Sept. 8 victory over Utah State, 31-14, in Tiger Stadium.
  • The game captains for the Tigers were Rohan Davey, Robert Royal, Trev Faulk and Dwayne Pierce. Tennessee won the toss and deferred the second half. LSU elected to receive the football and defended the North end zone.
  • LSU fell to 1-11-1 in Knoxville all-time, with its only win coming in 1988 when LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson completed 21-of-31 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Tigers to a 34-9 victory. LSU also fell to 4-19-3 overall against Tennessee.
  • LSU fell to 1-4 under head coach Nick Saban on the road.
  • LSU quarterback Rohan Davey continued to avoid being intercepted, as the senior has extended his streak to 121 passes without being picked off. He threw 43 passes without being picked off, a career high for attempts. Since the final game of the 1999 season, he has a 17:1 touchdown to interception ratio. He last threw an interception against Florida in the 2000 season.
  • Davey set career highs with 43 pass attempts and 356 yards against the Vols. Last time the Tigers and Vols met (Sept. 30, 2000), Davey completed 23-of-35 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. The 23 completions in that game is his career high.
  • LSU fell to 18-19 all-time on ESPN and 1-2 vs. Tennessee on the all-sports network. ESPN followed the team as part of its “all access” coverage during the past week
  • LSU senior safety Ryan Clark started his 27th consecutive game, every game since the first of his sophomore season in 1999. Junior wide receiver Jerel Myers started his 17th consecutive game and the 26th of 27 career games. Junior linebacker Trev Faulk
  • The loss was the first by LSU under head coach Nick Saban when leading at halftime (now 8-1). The last loss by the Tigers when leading at halftime was on Oct. 23, 1999, against Mississippi State (17-16 in Starkville, Miss.).
  • The 67-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Rohan Davey to freshman wide receiver Michael Clayton at the 10:29 mark in the first quarter tied Davey’s longest completion of his career (also 67 yards to Reggie Robinson in the 1999 finale against Arkansas). The reception was only the fourth of Clayton’s young career and his first touchdown.
  • The interception by safety Lionel Thomas with 10:15 remaining in the first quarter was the first of his career and the fourth different Tiger to pick off a pass this season.
  • The interception by cornerback Eric Damond at the 6:53 mark of the first quarter was his second of the season and the third of his career.
  • Myers 29-yard catch on the Tigers’ first drive gave him a catch in 25-of-26 career games, every one except the 2000 Ole Miss game in Oxford, Miss.
  • Placekicker John Corbello failed on a 49-yard attempt in the first quarter, which would have tied a career best set in the 2000 Peach Bowl against Georgia Tech. He later connected from 25 yards out, his fourth of the season. He improved to 4-for-4 inside 40 yards.
  • Punter Donnie Jones’ kick of 50 and 53 (against the wind) yards in the first half were consecutive season longs (previous high of 47 yards vs. Utah State). He also peeled off a 51-yarder. LSU entered the game leading the nation in net punting.
  • Junior fullback Soloman Lee’s 7-yard reception with 12:31 remaining in the first half was his first statistical touch as a Tiger.
  • The combined sack by senior defensive tackle Muskingham Barnes and junior linebacker Bradie James was the first half-sack of the season for each, coming at 9:56 mark in the second quarter. The half-sack gives James, a Butkus Award candidate, a total of 8.5 for his career. Barnes’ sack with 0:35 to play in the first half gave his a team-leading 1.5 in 2001. Barnes now has 5.5 for his career.
  • Senior defensive end Jarvis Green’s sack in the waning minutes of the first half was his 17th of his career, tying him with nose tackle Anthony McFarland for sixth on LSU’s all-time list. It was his first of the 2001 season.
  • Kelley Washington’s 70-yard touchdown reception with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter was the longest allowed by LSU since Mississippi State’s Wayne Madkin hit Terrell Grindele for 82 yards on the first play from scrimmage on Oct. 21, 2000.
  • Tennessee’s 3- and 1-yard touchdown runs were the second and third rushing scores allowed by the LSU defense this season. The other was run by Utah State star running back Emmett White from 1-yard out.
  • Junior wide receiver Josh Reed moved ahead of Sheddrick Wilson (1992-95) into 10th place on the school’s all-time receiving yards list on an 11-yard pass from Rohan Davey. On the next play from scrimmage, Reed caught his first touchdown of the season (30 yards from Davey) to move ahead of Eddie Kennison (1993-95) into ninth place on the all-time receiving list with 1,568 yards.
  • Reed’s 11th career receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter put him one short of Larry Foster (1996-99) for eighth place all-time.
  • Davey and Reed connected on a two-point conversion with 10:13 remaining in the game, the Tigers’ first since the 2000 Peach Bowl (also Reed from Davey).
  • With seven receptions for 125 yards, Reed recorded his 10th career 100-yard game after moving from running back to wide receiver at the end of the 1999 season (17 games). He stands only two 100-yard games behind Wendell Davis for most 100-yard receiving games in school history. He has caught for more than 100 yards in the Tigers’ first three games of the 2001 season: six for 135 vs. Tulane, five for 124 vs. Utah State and six for 125 against Tennessee. The seven receptions was a season high and his highest total since the Peach Bowl (nine).
  • The 256 yards receiving by Tennessee receiver Kelley Washington was the most allowed by the Tigers in school history and the third-most in SEC history.
  • LSU running back LaBrandon Toefield caught a career-high four passes for 50 yards, also a personal best.