In the biggest SCRC game of the weekend, Kentucky made a statement in the early going of its 44-24 win over Tennessee on Saturday in Lexington, KY.

"We had a pretty good game plan against them," Kentucky head coach Gary Anderson said. "Tennessee has a lot of strength in their maul and their scrum. We worked hard to defend against that and we knew we didn't want to give up any penalties."

The plan worked, and with Kentucky having more experience in the backline, the space started to open up wide. It certainly didn't help the Vols that they sustained injuries to both their flyhalf and scrumhalf.

"We had some opportunities to exploit in the backline and we did," Anderson said.

Leading the way was flyhalf Brendon Esson, who scored two tries and added seven points on kicks and directed the attack nicely. Lock Isaac Hamlin scored a try and was a force in tight.



"We had only two penalties in the first half, which allowed us to keep the game flowing," Anderson said. "We are looking forward to seeing Tennessee in the playoffs. Hopefully they will be back to full strength."

Elsewhere in the SCRC, Alabama produced an impressive 38-17 road win over Florida on Saturday to move to 1-0 in the West.

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