KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Volunteers sent coach Phillip Fulmer out after 17 seasons with one last win over Kentucky.

The Vols (5-7, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) cruised to a 28-10 win over the Wildcats tonight to extend the nation's longest active winning streak by one team over another to 24 games.

They also avoided becoming the first team in Tennessee history to lose eight games in a season.

An already bowl-eligible Kentucky (6-6, 2-6) was hoping to impress the bowl scouts and avoid a third straight Music City Bowl bid.

With only a few minutes left in the game and the score 28-3, fans began chanting "Phillip Fulmer" — a far cry from the boos they delivered him many times this season as the Vols struggled. He was carried off the field on the shoulders of several of his players.

Fulmer announced Nov. 3 that he was accepting Tennessee's decision for this season to be his last coaching the Vols. He said last week after their win at Vanderbilt that November had been like a "three-week long funeral."

About 150 friends and former players gathered for a pregame reception with Fulmer. He participated in the annual senior day tradition of taking one last run through the "T" formed by the band during pregame activities, and the Jumbotron flashed clips of Fulmer through the years during the game.

The announced attendance was 102,388, a few hundred over capacity, but only about 65,000 fans appeared to be in the stands on a blustery, damp night.

Fulmer leaves as the second winningest coach in Tennessee history behind Gen. Robert R. Neyland. The outgoing dean of the SEC coaches holds a 151-52 overall record, winning 74 percent of his games.

He's spent 32 out of the last 38 seasons with the Vols, including 13 as an assistant coach, four years as a player and two as a student assistant.

Former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin will apparently be the next Vols coach, though Tennessee officials refused to confirm or deny reports out of respect for Fulmer. A formal announcement is expected early in the week.

Coming out of halftime with a 7-3 lead, Tennessee played an inspired second half.

On the third play of the third quarter, Jonathan Crompton threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to Denarius Moore to give the Vols a 14-3 lead. It was Tennessee's longest play of the season.

The Vols pounded out an 80-yard drive on runs by Crompton, Gerald Jones, Eric Berry and Lennon Creer, who scored on a 5-yard run to put Tennessee up 21-3 with 14:24 in the fourth.

Jones later broke a 55-yard run out of his "G-gun" quarterback package but stepped out of bounds at the Kentucky 1. Back behind center three plays later, he rolled out right and ran into the corner of the end zone for a 28-3 lead with 5:44 left in the fourth.

Tennessee finished with 310 yards on offense, including 210 yards rushing. Crompton completed 6 of 8 passes for 101 yards and the touchdown, and Jones had 67 yards rushing.

Neither team was especially productive on offense in the first half. Tennessee's offense entered the game ranked 116th out of 119 major college teams, though Kentucky wasn't much better at 101st.

Three of the Wildcats' five first-half drives went three and out, while three of Tennessee's five first-half drives lost yardage.

Kentucky got on the board first with a 40-yard field goal by Lones Seiber with 5:00 in the first quarter.

With 5:36 left before halftime, the Wildcats punted from their own 4, and the Vols took over at the Kentucky 35.

Kentucky's David Jones was flagged for pass interference while defending Quintin Hancock in the end zone, setting Tennessee up at the 1-yard line with a first down.

Arian Foster failed to cross the goal line on three straight attempts, but Crompton punched it in on fourth-and-goal from about two inches away.

Alfonso Smith ran 1 yard for a touchdown with 3:44 left in the game to cut the Tennessee lead to 28-10.

Kentucky's phenom freshman quarterback Randall Cobb was benched midway through the third quarter with only 23 yards passing. Mike Hartline came in and completed 5 of 7 passes for 74 yards.