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Vols Claim SEC East, Will Face LSU For Crown

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The Associated Press

Published: November 25, 2007

Updated: 11/25/2007 12:22 am

LEXINGTON, Ky. - After all Tennessee overcame to get to this point - the lopsided losses, the calls for the coach to be fired - blowing a 17-point lead was no reason to get down.

Now the resilient Volunteers are heading back to Atlanta, SEC East champions after a heart-stopping 52-50 victory against snake-bit Kentucky on Saturday.

Sorry Georgia, but it's not a good idea to rest conference title hopes on having the Wildcats knock off their perennial border rivals. Times change, but Tennessee's dominance of the Wildcats does not.

"I think at one time during the season we were 1-2 and everyone had given us up for dead," Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said. "We had one of those Sunday night player meetings, where you pound on the podium and tell that what they need to do to be a better football team, and to their credit, they have listened."

Tennessee's Antonio Reynolds stuffed quarterback Andre Woodson's 2-point conversion attempt in the fourth overtime, ending one of the wildest games in the history of this rivalry and capping the Volunteers' improbable rally from 1-2 in the SEC.

The Volunteers (9-3, 6-2) earned a shot at LSU in Saturday's SEC title game by beating the Wildcats (7-5, 3-5) for the 23rd straight time, the longest active winning streak by one team against another in the major college football.

Tennessee and Georgia finished tied atop the East, but the Volunteers earned the title thanks to their 35-14 win against the Bulldogs on Oct. 6.

"To win that game under such circumstances, we were very fortunate," said Tennessee's Erik Ainge, who threw for a career-high 397 yards and seven touchdowns. "We somehow got it done. It wasn't perfect on either side but we find a way to get it done."

They got it done by outlasting Woodson and the Wildcats, who wasted several chances to end two decades of misery at the hands of the Volunteers.

Kentucky trailed 31-14 late in the third quarter, but scrambled to tie it on a 20-yard field goal by Lones Seiber at the end of regulation.

AUBURN 17, ALABAMA 10: Nick Saban couldn't figure out how to beat Auburn, either.

Brandon Cox scored on a 1-yard sneak with 3:50 left and the 25th-ranked Tigers' played stingy defense in a win against visiting Alabama that extended Auburn's winning streak in the bitter rivalry to a school-record six game.

Alabama (6-6, 4-4) hired Saban to coach the Crimson Tide after last season, giving him $4 million a year, in part to come up with a way to beat the Tigers. Not only was he unable to do that, but the Tide is no lock to even reach the postseason.

Alabama lost its final four games and is one of 10 SEC teams vying for a bowl spot.

Auburn (8-4, 5-3) recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock after Brad Lester gained 12 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Crimson Tide 30.

CLEMSON 23, S. CAROLINA 21: Mark Buchholz hit a 35-yard field as time expired to give No. 21 Clemson a victory against host South Carolina and leave Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier with the longest losing streak of his college career.

Buchholz, who starred on the Tiger soccer team this fall, had missed two earlier field-goal attempts. But he nailed the one that counted most and his teammates leaped in celebration at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Clemson (9-3) is 9-1 on South Carolina's home field since 1989.

For Spurrier and South Carolina (6-6), the defeat was their fifth straight, and it leaves the Gamecocks with precarious postseason hopes.

WAKE FOREST 31, VANDY 17: Wake Forest didn't just spoil Vanderbilt's hopes of a bowl game. It crushed them.

Alphonso Smith had two interceptions to lead a Wake Forest defense that forced five turnovers and beat host Vanderbilt (5-7), shattering any chance it had to make its first bowl game in 25 years.

Smith's two interceptions gave him eight for the year, making him Wake Forest's single-season interception leader. The previous record of seven was set by A.J. Green in 1987.

Josh Adams added 111 yards rushing and two touchdowns for the Demon Deacons (8-4) to seal an eight-win season for only the fifth time in school history.

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