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Tennessee's slow-starting Volunteers looked like anything but the nation's top team they were cracked up to be. By the end of the first quarter last week they were losing to Mississippi 7-0, and that seemed only the beginning. Time after time, Ole Miss passes caught the Volunteer secondary flatfooted; Tennessee fumbles stopped every drive before it was well started. But Tennessee Quarterback Johnny Majors was magnificently unflustered. While his team got untracked, Johnny killed time with old-fashioned football: he punted and prayed for the breaks.

For a while, the breaks came slowly. By half time the Volunteers were doing no better than a 7-7 tie. A locker-room talk from Coach Bowden Wyatt and a message from Athletic Director General Bob Neyland, scouting in the pressbox. corrected the team's mistakes. Now the Volunteers began to get the jump, and they forced Mississippi's first big mistake: an intercepted Mississippi pass led to a quick touchdown. Then, with Majors faking Ole Miss defenders off balance and hitting his receivers with passes that practically had handles, Tennessee went in front to stay, 21-7. After that, a well-drilled second team smothered the Mississippi attack while scoring once more on their own. Final score: Tennessee 27, Mississippi 7.

Simple Philosophy. Watching their team scramble back into the ball game, Volunteer fans reminded themselves that playing the breaks is what Johnny Majors and the rest of Coach Bowden Wyatt's boys do best. They have to. The Volunteers started the season with a squad that no self-styled expert took seriously. Of course, they had little Johnny (5 ft. 10 in., 162 Ibs.), and he could do anything with a football; they also had a couple of tough line men: End Buddy Cruze, Tackle and Captain John Gordy. But that was about all. Making the best of a bad situation, Coach Wyatt worked hard with his second-stringers, tried to build a club that could hold off the opposition while his stars caught their breath. His philosophy was disarmingly simple: "We play to keep the other guys bottled up down deep and watch their mistakes. Then, when you get a break, you've only got a short way to go to score. It beats marching down the field on your own. Let the other guy give you a hand."

Wyatt's scheme worked so well that Tennessee suddenly found itself boasting an unbeaten team. In seven games, the Volunteers made the most of their breaks, picked up 15 enemy fumbles, turned nine of them into scores. In between, they fielded a fast, shifty, single-wing offense, built around the talents of Quarterback Johnny Majors. His unerring quick kicks became a sharp offensive weapon; his passes were almost always on target. On rollout, run-pass option plays he gave the best defense fits. His pixyish, mincing gait was faster than it looked, and he proved to be one of those rare backs who can run in one direction and fire a pass in the other without breaking stride.

No Surprise. Around the Tennessee hills, little Johnny's cool skill comes as no surprise. He was born to football. Johnny has four brothers, ranging from seven to 19, all of whom play; his father, Shirley Majors, coaches Huntland (Tenn.) High School's outstanding team, which has won 70 games, tied one, and lost only one in the last seven years.

After Johnny's statewide cheering section got over the tension of that slow first quarter last week, the fans realized that they had never really had anything to worry about. All they had to do was wait for the breaks and watch the Volunteers win a sure shot at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and a sure spot among the best college football teams in the U.S.

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