NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Special teams played a special role for No. 25 Tennessee in a 59-30 win over Bowling Green at Nissan Stadium on Saturday.

Cam Sutton had punt returns of 47, 34 and 21 yards, each of which set up first-half touchdowns, and Evan Berry added a 67-yard kickoff return that led to a score for the Volunteers, who won their 21st consecutive season opener and scored their most points since a 56-28 win over Memphis in 2009.

"Our job is to play complementary football," Sutton said. "Everybody's tied together on a string - offense, defense, special teams. If we can get the ball back and give (the offense) good field position, they can put points up."

It was a winning combination, despite a Bowling Green offense that put up 557 yards and a lightning delay that took both teams off the field for 80 minutes.

"I thought our kids handled it well," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said of the delay, which came at the 8:30 mark of the third quarter with the Volunteers trying to protect a 42-27 lead. "The players responded very well."

Tennessee answered an early field goal by the Falcons by scoring touchdowns on its first three possessions - two following Sutton punt returns that left the Volunteers with short scoring drives - before Bowling Green got an 11-yard pass play from quarterback Matt Johnson to tight end Hunter Folkertsma to make it 21-10 at the end of the quarter.

As quickly as the Falcons got down, they were back in the game. After converting a fourth-and-3 gamble from their own 13, Johnson hit back-to-back passes to wide receiver Gehrig Dieter for 38 and 31 yards - the latter for a touchdown. On the next possession, Tyler Tate's 37-yard field goal cut the deficit to 21-20.

Running back Jalen Hurd answered with his third touchdown of the half - a 13-yarder - as Tennessee went up by eight. The Volunteers' defense forced Bowling Green to punt on fourth-and-31 from its own 4-yard line and Sutton's 21-yard return gave the offense a short field yet again, resulting in tight end Ethan Wolf's grab of an 11-yard Josh Dobbs pass for a 35-20 lead at halftime.

The Falcons scored after a missed Tennessee field goal attempt on running back Ryan Burbrink's 7-yard run, but Berry's 67-yard kickoff return led to an 18-yard pass from Dobbs to Wolf that restored the 15-point margin.

"Our special teams, our return teams - they flipped the field, they gave us a spark," Jones said.

Following the weather break, Tate's 25-yard field goal narrowed the margin to 42-30 but Alvin Kamara broke a 56-yard run for his second TD. Bowling Green then suffered a red-zone fumble that Tennessee recovered, and the Volunteers drove the length of the field with Dobbs scoring on an 18-yard keeper to cap the 94-yard drive for Tennessee.

"That's a good football team," Jones said of Bowling Green. "They're explosive on offense. They've got good skill people."

Kamara finished with 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns, with Hurd rushing for 123 yards and three scores - marking the first time Tennessee had two running backs hit the 100-yard plateau in the same game since their 63-7 win over Western Kentucky in the 2009 season opener. Montario Hardesty rushed for 160 yards and Bryce Brown 104 in that contest.

"I thought our defense played as well as their defense played," Bowling Green coach Dino Babers said after Tennessee posted 604 offensive yards. "We gave up a lot of yards rushing. But when you look at their players compared to our players, and their field position compared to our field position, I thought the two defenses played to a draw.

"I promise you that someone (on Tennessee's side) isn't going to sleep, based on how they played."

Johnson finished with 424 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Falcons.

"That was the game plan - to take some chances against their defensive backs," he said. "Sometimes they made plays on the ball, sometimes we dropped passes, and some of them I overthrew. But we made enough plays on the deep balls to keep us in the game."

NOTES: Volunteers defensive backs coach Willie Martinez was suspended prior to the game for an NCAA Level III violation. The suspension was announced about an hour prior to kickoff. Defensive quality control coach Stephen Smith assumed Martinez' s duties Saturday. Martinez is expected to return Sunday, but faces recruiting limitations as a result. ... Tennessee's preseason ranking was its first since opening the 2008 season at No. 18. ... The win was Tennessee's first as a ranked team since the No. 16 Volunteers defeated Wisconsin in the 2008 Outback Bowl. ... Bowling Green second-year coach Dino Babers previously spent two seasons at Eastern Illinois, where his quarterback - current New England backup Jimmy Garoppolo - won the Walter Payton Award, the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. ... The game was delayed 80 minutes because of lightning.