It wasn’t pretty, but head coach Derek Dooley and the Volunteers aren’t complaining about coming away with a victory.

“There were some hairy moments out there, but we found a way to win. That’s what matters. We won the game,” Dooley said.

Tennessee (4-5, 0-5 SEC) was in a seesaw game all day against Troy (4-5, 3-3 Sun Belt), but was able to score the final points of the game.

Marlin Lane’s nine-yard touchdown run with 1:25 left on the clock was the deciding play as the Tennessee defense, which struggled all day, was able to stop the Trojans on their final drive.

“As bad as we were on defense, and we were really bad, we stopped them on the final two (drives) and four of the last five,” said Dooley.

Offensively, the Volunteers looked as good as they have at any point of the year, carried by a record breaking performance by Tyler Bray.

Bray was 29-47 for 530 yards and five touchdowns and had no interceptions.

The junior quarterback’s 530 passing yards surpassed Peyton Manning’s school record of 523 single-game passing yards set in 1997, and is the second most by a quarterback in SEC history.

“I knew we were down by seven with less than three minutes to go, that’s all I was worried about,” said Bray. “I could care less about the records. I’m just glad we won.”

Justin Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson both had impressive stat lines as well.

Both hauled in nine receptions with Hunter tallying 181 yards and three scores, while Patterson had 219 yards with a touchdown.

“Coach had a real good gameplan for us,” Hunter said. “We studied it, practiced it this week and came out and executed.”

But as good as the Volunteer offense was, the defense was equally unimpressive.

The Trojans amassed 721 yards on 99 plays and were able to attack the Tennessee secondary deep multiple times.

“We didn’t really have an answer for anything,” Dooley said.

Troy quarterbacks Corey Robinson and Deon Anthony combined for 496 passing yards and three scores through the air.

Running back Shawn Southward gained 110 yards on the ground and two scores, with Anthony adding a rushing touchdown of his own.

“We have to go look at the film and see if the calls were the problem, if technique was the problem or if our communication is the problem,” Dooley said. “I think for the most part it was (that) they made a lot of plays on us. We’ll just have to look at the film and evaluate it.”

The 721 yards of total offense and 496 passing yards are the most given up by a Tennessee defense in school history.

“Nobody wants to be known for the defense that gave up the most yards,” said linebacker Curt Maggitt. “That’s not Tennessee defense. It is embarrassing but we came away with a ‘W.'”

Though the defense struggled, the head coach is just happy to be going home with a win.

“I feel pretty good, better than you guys think,” said Dooley. “Whenever I don’t feel good I just think of what’s the alternative.”

Tennessee will host Missouri (4-5, 1-5) next Saturday, Nov. 10, at 12:21 p.m. EST.