TAMPA, Fla - Tennessee ushered in the Phillip Fulmer era with pizzazz. Boston College might have closed out Tom Coughlin's reign with a thud

 

Fulmer won his first official game as coach of the 17th-ranked Volunteers on Friday, 38-23 over BC in the Hall of Fame Bowl Coughlin, in his second year as coach of the 16th ranked Eagles, reportedly is being eyed by the pros

 

Heath Shuler ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more to pace Tennessee, which built a 31-point lead before surrendering two TDs and a pair of two-point conversions in the last six minutes of the game.

 

Tennessee's versatile sophomore quarterback was named the game's most valuable player after scoring on runs of 1 and 14 yards and throwing TD passes of 27 yards to Cory Fleming and 69 yards to Mose Phillips, who broke three tackles after taking a short flip from Shuler.

 

Although the Volunteers (9-3) finished with four victories under Fulmer, this was the coach's first since succeeding Johnny Majors, who was forced out after 16 seasons at Tennessee.

 

The long-time Vols assistant won three games while his former boss was recovering from heart bypass surgery in September.

 

“I don't feel any differently than 1 felt the first three ball games, and all the ball games for that matter," Fulmer said. "It's exciting for Tennessee to win, and I'm just really glad to be part of it. I'm soaking wet from the Gatorade, but that's OK"

 

Boston College went 8-3-1 after going 4-7 in Coughlin's first season. The coach has been the focal point of speculation about the New York Giants' coaching vacancy but Coughlin insists there has been no official contact from the NFL team.

 

"My future is I'm standing here at the podium as the head coach of Boston College," said an agitated Coughlin, who is said to be in the running for the Giants' job that opened when Ray Handley was fired Wednesday

 

"1 didn't start those rumors," he added before abruptly cutting off his thought and turning his attention to BC's performance in its first bowl appearance since 1986.

 

"We've had a good time here in Tampa, but we didn't do a good job of mixing business with pleasure," Coughlin said "I'm not at all happy with the outcome"

 

"We didn't tackle very well," said Coughlin, whose team also should have stopped Shuler for a short gain on his second TD run.

 

BC fell behind 14-0 in the first 10 minutes of the game and the Eagles never recovered. Glenn Foley threw two touchdown passes to Pete Mitchell, covering 12 and 17 yards, and Darnell Campbell scored on a 7-yard run.

 

Shuler, meanwhile, completed 18 of 23 passes for 245 yards and gained 31 yards rushing on six attempts in just under three quarters. He was replaced by Jerry Colquitt, who threw a 28-yard TD pass to Fleming in the fourth quarter.

 

"We put a lot of work into preparing for the game, and that had a lot to do with how well we played," said Shuler.

 

Controlling the clock was one of Coughlin's biggest concerns before the game. The Eagles did that early, holding the ball for more than 11 minutes of the opening quarter, yet still found themselves trailing by two touchdowns.

 

Tennessee struck quickly after starting its first possession in BC territory when Eagles punter Jeff Beckley was tackled for an 11-yard loss after taking a high snap from center.

 

Shuler threw 42 yards to Ronald Davis at the BC 1 on Tennessee's first play, then scored two plays later on a quarterback keeper for a 7-0 lead.

 

The 6-foot-3 sophomore went to work again the next time from his own 45. Charlie Garner had carries of 6 and 8 yards and Shuler threw 12 yards to Phillips to set up his 27-yard TD pass to Fleming, who eluded three tacklers crossing over the middle.

 

Shuler, third in the Southeastern Conference in total offense this season, completed 12 of his first 13 passes before finishing the half 14 of 18 for 140 yards. He was 4 of 5 for 105 yards in the second half.