John Chavis
Phillip Fulmer

Tennessee running back Arian Foster (27) tries to fend off Vanderbilt linebacker Patrick Benoist (30) in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE — History will show at least one bright spot during Phillip Fulmer’s painful exit from the University of Tennessee football program.

Fulmer said the past three weeks have felt like a “funeral.” If that’s the case, Saturday was a happy receiving of friends for those in orange.

For the Volunteers, the 20-10 Southeastern Conference victory at Vanderbilt was a beaming ray of sunshine on a cold, overcast afternoon.

They used four quarterbacks in the defense-dominated game but attempted only nine passes and completed just four for 21 yards in at least delaying a program-record eighth loss in one season. Tennessee and Ohio State are still the only two NCAA Division I programs to avoid that fate.

“Winning is an awesome feeling,” said Vols redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Coleman from Chattanooga, “especially when you haven’t felt it in a while.”

The Vols hadn’t felt that since Oct. 18.

“I don’t think anybody on our team cared how we did it,” junior tailback Montario Hardesty said. “We just needed to do it, and we did. This doesn’t take away all the bad stuff, but it still feels pretty good.”

Vanderbilt (6-5, 4-4) looked like the Commodores of old rather than the team that had already secured bowl eligibility for the first time since 1982 — which, coincidentally, was the last time UT (4-7, 2-5) lost in Nashville.

“Tennessee had a lot to do with it,” Vandy coach Bobby Johnson said. “They were very good on defense, and we just had way too many mistakes in the first half.

“It just killed us, and it didn’t gives us a chance.”

The Commodores finished with 213 yards of total offense — 9, 16 and 48 in the first three quarters.

Asked if he could envision his defense surrendering a 20-0 halftime lead, UT coordinator John Chavis said, “No, I really didn’t.

“You won’t find me saying that too much. But our kids were on today. We backed off a little bit (late) to run some clock and everything, but our kids were on. They were into what we were doing, they knew what we were doing, and they were executing.

“It’s not good enough just to play well. (Winning) means a lot. At least you can smile a little bit. That makes it worth it, when you can smile a little bit.”

The Vols started slowly Saturday, as they have much of the season.

Junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton — starting for the first time since late September — stared down his intended wide receiver on the game’s second play, and Vanderbilt cornerback Myron Lewis stepped in for an easy interception at the UT 34-yard line.

“It was almost like, ‘Here we go again,’” UT sophomore wide receiver Gerald Jones said. “But this time we bounced back.”

The Commodores couldn’t capitalize, punting back to UT.

Coleman relieved Crompton on the Vols’ third possession, and he would have driven them inside the Vanderbilt 30 if not for an illegal-formation penalty on left tackle Chris Scott. But the Vols went 65 yards in nine plays to the end zone on their next series, with Coleman getting 17 yards on three carries.

Junior tailback Montario Hardesty opened the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown run, and Daniel Lincoln’s extra point gave UT a 7-0 lead with 11:25 left in the second quarter.

The Vols ran 51 times for 222 yards. Hardesty, senior Arian Foster and sophomore Lennon Creer combined for 174 yards on 31 carries — an average of 5.6 yards.

“I definitely think the O-line had a mentality that they wanted to go out there and knock those guys off the ball,” Hardesty said. “On the touchdown I had, I pretty much didn’t even get touched. I didn’t have to deal with anybody until the 2- or 3-yard line, and that was a safety, so the O-line definitely came off the ball and created a nice hole.”

Lincoln bumped UT’s lead to 10-0 with a 25-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, and super sophomore Eric Berry’s latest glimpse of brilliance gave the Vols a bigger cushion.

Junior linebacker Rico McCoy hit Commodores quarterback Chris Nickson as he threw, and Berry returned the fluttering pass 45 yards to the end zone.

Berry’s NCAA-leading seventh pickoff this season gave him an SEC-record 265 return yards this year. He already owns the career SEC return-yardage record, and he’s second in NCAA history.

UT nearly added another defensive score just before halftime. Sophomore cornerback Brent Vinson intercepted Vandy backup quarterback Mackenzi Adams and returned it 69 yards to the VU 14 with 0:14 left in the half.

Lincoln’s second chip shot came one play later.

“We knew that Tennessee had a great defense with great players,” Commodores receiver George Smith said. “We knew we had to be on top of our game. That required no penalties and taking care of the ball, and I don’t think we did our best job at those parts of the game.”

Vanderbilt drove 53 yards for a field goal on its first third-quarter possession, and the Commodores pulled within 20-10 with 4:20 left in the period when safety Reshard Langford returned a forced Coleman pass 42 yards to the end zone.

Creer fumbled near midfield early in the fourth quarter, but the Vols responded with two of their seven sacks to keep a two-score advantage.

“I think we were executing better,” said UT senior defensive end Robert Ayers, who had two of those sacks. “And we were playing with a lead, which is always helpful for the defense, because you can just tee off and let loose.

“It just was so fun to be able to go out there and have fun again.”

Fulmer’s finale is this Saturday in Neyland Stadium, when the Vols host bowl-eligible Kentucky (6-5, 2-5) at 6:30 p.m.

“I don’t even want to think about that just yet,” he said. “Really, I just want to enjoy this one right now.”