Junior quarterback Peyton Manning played one of the finest games of his collegiate career in leading the Tennessee Volunteers to a 48-28 victory over the Northestern Wildcats.
Manning completed 27 of 39 passes, for 408 yards and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran for an additional score.
Manning came out on fire, hitting Peerless Price for a 43-yard touchdown (1:33-mark) on the game's opening possession. He followed that up with a 10-yard TD run (2:19-mark), and then found his favorite target Joey Kent for an 11-yard TD (3:31-mark) to give Tennessee a 21-0 first-quarter lead.
Northwestern finally got on the board in the 2nd-quarter with a 2-yard TD run by All-Big Ten running back Darnell Autry (4:17-mark) playing despite being under the weather. The Wildcats then recovered an onside kick and quarterback Steve Schnur found receiver Brian Musso for a 20-yard touchdown (5:06-mark) to trim the Volunteers' lead to 21-14. Surging with momentum, Northwestern immediately capitalized on a Tennessee turnover with a 28-yard TD jaunt by Autry (5:48-mark) and suddenly the game was tied at 21.
Unfortunately for Northwestern, Peyton Manning recaptured the momentum by driving Tennessee to 10 quick points before the half, including a 67-yard catch and run by Joey Kent (6:20-mark) to take a 31-21 lead into intermission.
Tennessee LB Tyrone Hines' pick-6 accounted for the only points of the 3rd-quarter (8:48-mark) and in the 4th-quarter Manning answered a 22-yard Dwayne Bates touchdown reception (10:34-mark) with a 6-yarder to tight end Dustin Moore (11:13-mark) to close out the scoring and seal a 48-28 Tennessee victory.
Manning spread the ball around, with senior wideout Joey Kent finishing with 5 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns, and junior Peerless Price catching 6 passes for 110 yards and 1 touchdown. Volutneers running back Jay Graham rushed for 79 yards on 14 carries.
Northestern QB Steve Schnur completed 25 of 45 passes for 228 yards, 2 TD's and 3 Int's. RB Darnell Autry, in his final game as a Wildcat -- rushed 17 times for 66 yards and 2 TD's.
Tennessee finished the 1996 season with a record of 10-2 while Northwestern finished 9-3.