1991 Sugar Bowl

The 1991 Sugar Bowl matched the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Cavaliers.

Background

Virginia had started the season off strong with 7 straight wins and ranked #1 in the AP Poll for the first time in school history, but a loss to Georgia Tech dropped them out of #1 after two weeks, and a loss two weeks later to Maryland and a loss to Virginia Tech the following week dropped them out of the poll completely, as the team finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference and had lost three of four going into their first ever Sugar Bowl appearance. Tennessee was in its 7th Sugar Bowl appearance, but first since 1986. The Vols were champion of the Southeastern Conference for the second straight year due to Florida being on probabtion, and were as ranked as high as #3 before a loss to Alabama. They had started 4-0-2 start before going 1-2 with losses to Notre Dame and Alabama sandwiched between a win before ending the season with 3 straight wins to be ranked in the AP Top 10 for the second straight year.

Game summary

5:41 into the game, Gary Steele started the scoring off for the Cavaliers to give them an early lead, though the kick was blocked. After the Vols punted the ball away, Jake McInerney added on to the lead with a field goal to make it 9-0. The Volunteers tried to strike back on their next drive, but a Kelly pass was intercepted by Tyrone Lewis and the Cavaliers went to work once again, which culminated 80 yards and 6:59 later with a Terry Kirby touchdown run that gave the Cavaliers (who had forced three turnovers and had the ball for over 22 minutes) a 16-0 halftime lead. The second half started off small for Tennessee, with a Greg Burke field goal giving them their first points of the game. The rest of the quarter was scoreless, but the fourth quarter is when the scoring started to kick in, with 26 combined points, starting with a Virginia turnover that led to a Tennessee touchdown 94 yards later on a Tony Thompson touchdown run. McInerney added in his 2nd field goal of the game to make it 19-10. Andy Kelly narrowed the lead once more on a touchdown pass to Pickens to make it 19-17. Virginia could only muster up another McInerney field goal, but it only gave them a five-point lead with 2:31 left. The Vols drove down the field going 79 yards in two minutes led by Kelly who went 7 of 9 for 64 yards that culminated with a Thompson touchdown run that gave the Vols the win with :31 remaining. Kelly went 24 for 35 with 273 yards, two interceptions, but one touchdown, and was named MVP.^[1]

Aftermath

Neither team has appeared in the Sugar Bowl since this game.

Statistics

References