KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Jonathan Crompton threw for two touchdowns as Tennessee turned to its unsteady passing game to beat Ohio 34-23 Saturday night.
Crompton threw a 26-yard screen pass to Bryce Brown to give the Vols (2-2) a 31-20 lead with 2:38 in the third quarter and lobbed a 3-yard scoring strike to Brandon Warren at the end of the first.
With a stable of tough running backs, the Vols relied on their strong running game in their first three games to protect the turnover-prone passing game. Against the Bobcats, they rushed for 177 yards while Crompton completed 17 of 34 passes for 222 yards.
Ohio (2-2) kept Tennessee uncomfortable by taking advantage of mistakes and passing for 319 yards against a Vols defense that entered the game allowing an average 88.33 yards by air per game.
Crompton threw his eighth interception of the season to Noah Keller, who returned it 10 yards to the Tennessee 30. Theo Scott connected with LaVon Brazill on a 2-yard touchdown pass four plays later, giving the Bobcats a 14-7 lead with 7:08 in the first quarter.
Scott finished 30-for-52. Brazill had 92 yards on eight catches, and Taylor Price added 90 yards on four catches.
Chris Garrett took advantage of the Vols’ poor special teams coverage and returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
Tennessee, which entered the game ranked fifth in total defense in the FBS, held the Bobcats to only 21 yards rushing on 17 carries.
The Vols were also strong on the ground on offense. Montario Hardesty ran 20 times for 140 yards and an 11-yard touchdown and now has 1,531 career yards rushing.
Bryce Brown added 56 yards rushing and caught two passes for 60 yards, including a 34-yard catch on the second play of the game.
Tennessee will have a tough time regrouping before facing Auburn at home next week with several Vols leaving the game because of injury. Coach Lane Kiffin said starting middle linebacker Nick Reveiz was likely lost for the season after taking a hard hit on his right knee.
Even though rain earlier in the day kept the attendance at Neyland Stadium down, the 95,535 in attendance made up the second-largest crowd in Ohio’s history.

44 Comments
1 - 25 of 44
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Nice effort Bobcats, you guys played a terrific game!!!
Report Abuse
Yet, I believe better days are ahead and that Lane Kiffin and his staff will succeed in this program. The old regime left the table practically bare with the exception of one standout safety in Berry. We have youth and energy going for us right now and little else. Still, I believe we can win any game because I believe this team is well coached and is willing to learn.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Fulmer was a great coach...for about 10 years. Then he got soft and fell back on the "The way we always do it." But it stopped working. Fulmer WAS one of the best coaches in the SEC ranking up there with Spurrier. But as the Vols stayed the course, coaches like Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and Mark Richt came along to even the playing field. Fulmer was outmatched and the Vols suffered.
I may be a Vols fan but I am also a football fan. As a football fan I know, I KNOW, that Tennessee will have a rough year. It is an entirely new coaching staff working with someone else's team. That is why Crompton is still QB. If Kiffin puts in Stevens (or B.J Coleman who left for this very reason) and Stevens does very well, Kiffin can't recruit his own 4-year QB. Period.
It is hard as a fan to know that this season is technically a write-off but it is what it is. What mystifies me is what Fulmer saw in him in the first place.
As for Tim Tebow, this orange-blooded Vols fan has one thing to say. I hope it recovers quickly and completely. He is a class act and a great football player. I would love to see him dominate LSU in two weeks. Go Vols!
Report Abuse
Fulmer was a great coach...for about 10 years. Then he got soft and fell back on the "The way we always do it." But it stopped working. Fulmer WAS one of the best coaches in the SEC ranking up there with Spurrier. But as the Vols stayed the course, coaches like Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and Mark Richt came along to even the playing field. Fulmer was outmatched and the Vols suffered.
I may be a Vols fan but I am also a football fan. As a football fan I know, I KNOW, that Tennessee will have a rough year. It is an entirely new coaching staff working with someone else's team. That is why Crompton is still QB. If Kiffin puts in Stevens (or B.J Coleman who left for this very reason) and Stevens does very well, Kiffin can't recruit his own 4-year QB. Period.
It is hard as a fan to know that this season is technically a write-off but it is what it is. What mystifies me is what Fulmer saw in him in the first place.
As for Tim Tebow, this orange-blooded Vols fan has one thing to say. I hope it recovers quickly and completely. He is a class act and a great football player. I would love to see him dominate LSU in two weeks. Go Vols!
And Beel? Monte Kiffin is the best thing that ever happened to the Vols defense. Remain fearful my friend. Remain fearful.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
First of all I'm not a Vols hater. I just dislike what Kiffen will do to this program in the long run.
Secondly, no one should be afraid of Kiffen---as he has not done anything yet!
Third, you made my point. Enough with the recruiting class bs. That smacks of dreaming of what might be. All of the SEC powerhouse teams are in the top ten EVERY year. Getting good recruits will not stop and Alabama, LSU, Georgia, or Florida. I'm sure that the Vols will have a great run at recruiting--might be #1 some years. But enough---it's all about wins. Even Spurrier had enough sense to keep his mouth shut until he started racking up wins during his run. This guy will get this program in trouble.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
I wish them a speedy recovery and hope they all are OK.
Go VOL’s
Report Abuse
I don’t know if you have read anything but your own posts and things you have made up in your mind, but you Gator fans since the beginning of the season say the same lame stuff about coach Kiffin. If you could read you would have that Coach Kiffin stated that the FLA game was not a moral victory and was as well as the team distraught (I know big word for you, means upset) over the lost to FLA.
The one ones talking about moral victory was the Press and Gator fans. So lay off and go back to your own team page.
By the way the Gators are playing with the seniors this year were part of a 3rd ranked , juniors 1st ranked and sophomores 2nd ranked in the nation recruiting class, what scare you and the haters is that the VOL’s were higher than you last year and are 4th ranked this year.
Also if you would notice all true VOL’s fans wish Tebow a speedy recovery and hopes he is OK we don’t bash him or talk trash about your coach.
So get real
Go VOL’s
Report Abuse
I am like you in that I don’t understand the QB situation, however I can’t see what is happening in practice so I have to trust the coach to make the right call.
Next year we have QB Tyler Bray 6’6” 187, he will work in the weight room and grow to 220 to 230 and has the frame to handle the extra weight In the 11th edition of the Elite 11 and Kingsburg (Calif.) High's Tyler Bray held off the competition to win the overall Golden Gun Award. He is extremely accurate passer.
Junior College transfer QB Nick Lamaison who threw for 3,479 yards and 36 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions, and we should have Stevens returning. Nick Lamaison can’t play this year because of NCAA rules.
Sorry I don’t know anything about Mike Fromke but those in Knoxville should know a lot about him, because he is from there.
Bottom line I think our QB situation will be OK very soon and next spring the competition should be tough for QB which will make us much better. This year I think Kiffin has to play the hand he has been dealt but things are looking up.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Also, I hope Tebow is ok. he is a great kid and is good for college football an the SEC. I like to see someone get their bell rung occassionally, but this looked as though it may have been a serious injury and I never want to see anyone seriously injured . . . TT is a respected foe. Get well soon TT.
Report Abuse
The VOL’s defense and giving up the big plays this game really surprised me and we may have lost middle linebacker Reveiz for the year and this will be a big blow, however the coaches have been using back up s across the defense for most of the year and they will fill in. You can never replace the leadership and intensity that he has brought this year but the coaches will have someone step up. I take my hat off to Coach Lane Kiffin he Suspended Rogan "Dennis was suspended as an administrative reason," Kiffin said. "He'll be back next week. We talk about doing the little things right and everybody doing them and when people are selfish and don't do the little things right, they don't play. The immediate effect is the team. You saw it tonight. We missed him today out there." This is the mark of a coach that is instilling discipline. The team really miss him in the defensive back field coach Kiffin will have a disciplined team, nowhere is it showing more than on the amount of penalties or should I say like of currently the VOL’s are the least penalized team in the nation.
The Bobcats played a great game and I think really surprised the VOL’s with their physical play, I think the VOL players came into this game a little flat mainly on defense. For next week they need to bring their A game again against one of the best teams in the SEC the Auburn Tigers, they are very underrated and this will be a very hard game.
Congratulations VOL’s on your victory, you know what you need to work on for next week
I wish the best for ALL the players injured this week in college football and wish them all a speedy recovery, any fan you cheers any player from any team hurt or celebrates the injury is truly not a fan.
Go VOL’s
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
tennessee fans,
your coach has a career record of 6-17, but he talks trash to the MOST SUCCESFUL head coach of this decade. you team loses and your coach says "wait till next year"?????? you say your new coach has instilled academic discipline and raised the GPA????? sorry, but he's a few weeks into his first season as head coach, so that one don't fly at all? bottom line, after another week of running up the score against ohio, you'll probably lose 4 straight SEC games. lane kiffin is ALL TALK. he thinks he's making news for UT, but all he's doing is showing to every serious recruit that he is a clown who cant back up all his big, hollow empty words. after your sorry team goes 4-8 and loses their finale to kentucky (because remember, for all his hot air garbage, kiffin had NO QB) the recruits he thought he had are going to be going to florida, alabama and LSU and the same way you turncoat fairweather fans turned on phil- who won you a NC and won the SEC east and lost by one score to the eventual nat'l champs less than a year before he was canned- you'll turn on this idiot...GUARANTEED. and you know what: you got no one to blame but yourselves.
1 - 25 of 44