KNOXVILLE -- Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for the Vols, along comes Wyoming.

Tennessee's football team continues to set records for futility, and Saturday's Homecoming performance scraped the bottom of the barrel. The Vols lost to a Mountain West Conference opponent for the first time in history, as two Nick Stephens interceptions resulted in two first half touchdowns for the Cowboys, who made that stand up for a 13-7 win.

It was a bad ending to a horrible week for the Vols, who saw their coach resign in an emotional announcement on Monday.

"The players don't owe me any kind of apology," lame duck Coach Phillip Fulmer said. "If anything, I should be apologizing to the fans and everybody for this whole week coming about. You get beat if you turn the ball over."

Tennessee is now 3-7 on the year, only the second team in the long, storied school history to lose that many games in a season. With a road game at Vanderbilt and a home game against Kentucky remaining, the Vols appear to be on the way to setting a record for losses. Their 1-5 Southeastern Conference record has them on pace to finish dead last in the league, a feat that hasn't happened since 1954, and they won't go to a post-season bowl game for the second time in the past four seasons.

Wyoming came into the game with a 3-6 record and a big underdog, but the events that happened in Knoxville during the past week obviously left the Vols with little energy. An offense that continues to struggle mightily could drive for only one touchdown, and the two first half scores by the Cowboys proved to be enough for a win.

"There were a lot of emotions throughout the week," Fulmer said. "Youth is resilient, but it's been a tough week. But that doesn't cause a ball to be intercepted. If we don't have that, we win 7-0 maybe, I don't know. I thought our defense played well enough to win the game. Offensively, we just didn't get it done -- again."

Tennessee took the game's opening kickoff and marched down to the Wyoming 31 before things began to fall apart. Stephens threw a pass that defensive end Mike Neuhaus batted, then bobbled, then caught, and he headed the other way with a head start on the rest of the field. UT receiver Lucas Taylor caught him from behind at the UT 4-yd. line.

On their first play from scrimmage, Wyoming scored on a pass from quarterback Chris Stutzriem to fullback Greg Genho. Jake Scott kicked the point and the Cowboys were ahead 7-0.

In the second quarter, Stephens coughed up his second errant throw, this time to Ward Dobbs, who returned the interception 24 yds. for a touchdown. The PAT failed, but the Cowboys were up 13-0.

Tennessee relieved Stephens with Jonathan Crompton at quarterback, but the Vols never threatened in the first half.

But he did lead the team on their only scoring drive of the game in the third quarter, a 64 yd. march in 11 plays. Lennon Creer, who got the start at tailback due to injuries to Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty, neither of whom saw any action, did most of the running in the drive. Crompton hit a clutch third-and-10 11-yd. pass to Austin Rogers that gave the Vols a first and goal at the eight, and two plays later, Crompton hit Gerald Jones over the middle for the touchdown.

Dennis Rogan got the ball right back for the Vols when he recovered a fumble near mid-field, but Tennessee couldn't do anything with it on offense and had to punt. They also got the ball back at the Wyoming 43 after a short punt later in the third quarter, but again the offense fizzled.

Early in the fourth quarter, the UT defense stood firm and stopped the Cowboys on a fourth down and 3 from the UT 23 and took over on downs, and the Vols began a good drive that looked as if it meant something.

The Vols moved it to the Wyoming 21, but that was it. After freshman Tauren Poole picked up two yards up the middle on the run, Crompton threw three straight incomplete passes and the drive stalled.

That would be UT's last threat to score, and the 13-7 score stood up.

"You're always disappointed when you lose a football game," Fulmer said. "And you're particularly disappointed when you lose a game you feel like you should have won."

UT defensive end Wes Brown summed it up best: "We're not going to make excuses. It's been a tough week, but there's no excuse for how we played. No one wanted anything more than to win these games for coach Fulmer and these coaches. That's all I can say, it's been a tough week."

UT has this week off before the trip to Vanderbilt.