1996 UCLA at Tennessee football game
| UCLA at Tennessee | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | September 7, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Neyland Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Knoxville, Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Jim Nantz and Terry Donahue | ||||||||||||||||||
CBS returned to regular-season college football with a primetime inter-conference clash between UCLA and Tennessee. The game was the season opener for the Bruins, and the Volunteers came in 1-0 after a 62-3 rout of UNLV. The game was supposed to provide a good test for the second-ranked Vols with a titanic showdown with Florida looming two weeks later. Tennessee had gone 11-1 in 1995, with their only loss to Florida. Junior QB Peyton Manning was a preseason Heisman candidate, and the defense was led by cornerback Terry Fair and linebacker Leonard Little.
UCLA was coming off of a 7-5 campaign in 1995, and was led by quarterback Cade McNown and wide receiver Danny Farmer. It was the head coaching debut for Bob Toledo, who took over for Terry Donahue, who moved on to broadcasting for CBS, with his first assignment being his former team's visit to Knoxville.
The game[edit]
UCLA struck first on a 50-yard first quarter field goal from Bjorn Merten, but Manning rallied the Vols to a 14-3 lead behind a 1-yard run and a 6-yard pass to Eric Lane. In the second quarter Manning had his first big mistake of the season, as UCLA's Abdul McCullough intercepted a Manning pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown to cut the UT lead to 14-10. Manning then added his second rushing touchdown of the game to increase the lead to 21-10 at halftime.
Terry Fair's 83-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter gave Tennessee a commanding 28-13 lead, but the Bruins answered right back on an 88-yard pass from McNown to Farmer. The big plays were not over; however, as on the ensuing drive Manning found Joey Kent for a 53-yard score, providing the final points of the game. Tennessee hung on for a 35-20 win.
Game attendance was 106,297.
Aftermath[edit]
Tennessee had a bye week before the showdown with #4 Florida. Florida jumped to a 35-0 lead and hung on for a 35-29 win. The Vols would lose only to Memphis the rest of the way, and finished their season 10-2 after beating Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl. UCLA finished 5-6 in Toledo's first season, but did notch their third consecutive win over rival USC.
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