Vols Ride Manning To Victory

Tennessee’s Leonard Little forced two fumbles by quarterbacks Paul Head and Stewart Patridge, leading to two Tennessee touchdowns, as the No. 9 Volunteers (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) beat Ole Miss 41-3 Thursday night.

Peyton Manning threw for 242 yards and a touchdown in his first game against Ole Miss, where his father was a standout quarterback and his mother a homecoming queen. He played just three quarters, completing 18 of 22 passes before leaving the game with his team ahead 38-3.

Ole Miss (3-2, 1-2) was driving with a chance to tie late in the first half when Little crushed Head, knocking the ball loose for Nick Jester to recover. That set up Jay Graham’s 1-yard TD six plays later that made it 17-3 at halftime.

Early in the second half, it was Patridge, Head’s backup, who fumbled after being blindsided by Little. Bill Duff recovered in the end zone for Tennessee’s second touchdown in 32 seconds.

Patridge had just replaced Head, who on the first play of the second half was flagged for intentional grounding. On the next snap, Head’s pass was intercepted by Craig King at the 6.

Manning then threw a 5-yard TD pass to Marcus Nash.

Manning grew up cheering for Ole Miss. Thursday night, Archie Manning and his wife Olivia sat in a private luxury box across the field from the main press box at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.