Boxscore

Louisiana Tech kept things tight early on before Tennessee pulled away for a 42-17 win over the Bulldogs Saturday before a crowd of 104,257 at Neyland Stadium.

The loss dropped Tech to 2-2 overall while Tennessee, ranked No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches? Poll and No. 11 in the AP poll, climbed to 3-0.

Tech, playing before the largest crowd in Bulldogs? history, led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 28-14 at the half, but powerful Tennessee outscored the ?Dogs 14-3 in the second half to secure the win.

Junior quarterback Donald Allen went down with an arm injury early in the first quarter as Louisiana Tech looked to fellow junior Matt Kubik off the bench. Kubik responded with a career performance, hitting on 17-of-30 passes for 258 yards, including a 33-yard scoring strike to Julius Cosby.

Cosby?s 33-yard catch was a career best and his first score of the season.

Tech running Ryan Moats entered the contest as the nation?s leading rusher and turned in a solid effort against a strong Volunteers defense, picking up 97 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Moats had actually broken the century mark but a late tackle for negative yardage pushed the junior running back under 100 yards.

Senior wide receiver Tramissian Davis also had a career night for the Bulldogs, hauling in a career-high six receptions for 127 yards.

Tennessee?s running game propelled the Volunteers to the win as they rushed for 347 yards on 51 carries for 6.8 yards per attempt.

Senior Cedric Houston topped the Volunteers with 160 yards and scoring runs of 37 and 27 yards on 16 carries while junior Gerald Riggs added 116 yards on 16 carries for Tennessee.

The Bulldogs took the early 7-0 advantage when Kubik hit Cosby for the scoring pass at the 2:44 mark of the first quarter, but Tennessee countered 28 seconds later when Houston burst free from 37 yards out to knot things up at 7-7.

Louisiana Tech regained the lead 14-7 when Moats found paydirt on a 37-yard scoring scamper with 32 seconds left in the opening quarter, but again Tennessee would quickly march back for the tie, culminating with a 13-yard touchdown from Erik Ainge to C.J. Fayton at the 13:01 mark of the second quarter.

Tennessee moved on to the 28-14 halftime advantage on a 60-yard scoring pass from Ainge to Bret Smith with 7:09 left in the stanza followed by Houston?s 27-yard touchdown run with 21 seconds remaining before intermission.

The Volunteers stretched their lead to 35-14 with 6:42 left in the third quarter when Ainge hit Smith from four yards out.

Louisiana? Tech cut the Tennessee lead to 35-17 at the 5:09 mark of the third quarter when freshman Danny Horwedel, a native of nearby Oak Ridge, Tenn., connected on his first career field goal with a 30-yarder.

Tennessee closed out scoring on Brent Schaeffer?s 24-yard strike to Robert Meachem with 1:41 left in the third quarter.

Defensively the Bulldogs were led by Travon Brown with nine tackles and Lee Johnson and Michael Johnson with eight takedowns each.

Jemelle Cage and Ladarius Love each added a quarterback sack for the Bulldogs, who are now 0-2 in all-time games against Tennessee.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Zac Champion saw his first career action for Tech late in the game when Kubik had to leave with leg cramps. Champion hit on 1-of-2 pass attempts for six yards.

Tennessee?s Dustin Colquitt entered the game as the NCAA?s leading punter, but Tech freshman Matt Butler won the individual dual, averaging 42.1 yards per punt while Colquitt averaged 40.0 yards per boot.

The Bulldogs return to action next Saturday as Louisiana Tech plays host to Fresno State in a 6 p.m. contest at Joe Aillet Stadium.