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  Saturday, Oct. 2 7:30pm ET
Grant gets UT going on first play
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee's offense was pretty good up to a point in Saturday night's 24-0 victory over Auburn. Unfortunately for the Vols (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP), that point was outside the Tigers end zone.

"If the goal line had been around the 10 or 15 (yard line) we'd have had 60 points tonight," Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Obviously we have some work to do."

Jamal Lewis
Tennessee's Jamal Lewis was held below 100 yards for the 3rd straight game.

Tennessee (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) didn't need a whole lot of offense as the Tigers (3-2, 1-2) had redshirt freshman Jeff Klein making his first start at quarterback in place of the injured Ben Leard.

"He's not the second-team quarterback anymore. He's the starter," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "He's got to make better decisions, but he'll learn."

It was Tennessee's first shutout of Auburn in 14 meetings since 1980.

Tennessee safety Deon Grant intercepted a pass by Klein and scored on the first offensive play of the game to get the Vols on the board after only 14 seconds of play.

"I didn't think the quarterback was going to throw it," said Grant, who tied a school record with three interceptions. "I just looked back and it was in my face."

Travis Henry scored on runs of 34 and 1 yards to provide some offensive punch for the Vols, who gained 401 yards but came up empty on five trips inside the Auburn 23.

Henry finished with 84 yards on 13 carries. Jamal Lewis was held below 100 yards for the third straight game, with 64 on 19 carries. Cedrick Wilson caught six passes for 112 yards.

Clifton Robinson led the Tigers with 65 yards on 20 carries.

Tee Martin had three passes intercepted to end Tennessee drives into Auburn territory, and a bad center snap recovered by Auburn's Adlai Trone ended another.

"We moved the ball up and down the field, we just didn't punch it in," Martin said. "If it ain't one thing it's another."

Grant either scored or set up all of Tennessee's points for a 10-0 halftime lead.

Klein finished 15-of-29 for 147 yards, with four interceptions.

"The first play I just didn't see him," Klein said. "I thought they were in man and they rolled up the coverage. They just got me."

Grant returned his third interception 28 yards to set up Alex Wall's 22-yard field with 13 seconds left in the half for a 10-0 Tennessee lead.

Martin's passes were intercepted by Rob Pate in the Auburn end zone, by Trone at the Tigers 13 and by Kenny Kelly at the Auburn 11 to end scoring threats. The wide center snap from the shotgun formation sailed past Martin after the Vols had driven to a first-and-goal at the 2.

Tennessee went 48 yards early in the third quarter to score on Henry's 1-yard run and make it 17-0.

The big play in the drive was an 18-yard screen pass to Lewis on third-and-13 two plays before Henry scored.

After Kelly's interception at the Tigers 11, Klein completed what appeared to be a 90-yard scoring pass to Ronney Daniels, but it was called back by a holding penalty.

Auburn punted from its own end zone and Tennessee took over at the Tigers 45.

Henry broke several tackles to score from the 34 three plays later and end the scoring.

The game ended with Tennessee once again inside the Auburn 10, but the Vols let the clock run out.
 


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AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Deon Grant returns this interception for a TD on the game's first play.
avi: 1057 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN

 Travis Henry runs in the 1-yard TD.
avi: 791 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN