For the first time since Kent State, Tennessee scored on its opening drive
Knoxville, Tenn. – The woes of a sputtering first-half offense for Tennessee quieted a bit when the Vols finished their opening drive with an exclamation point.
On a fourth down attempt, Nico Iamaleava waited patiently in the pocket for Squirrel White to reach the checkered board, and just as quickly Iamaleava connected with number 3 for a 34-yard touchdown!
That score marked the first opening-drive touchdown pass since September against Kent State.
The offense also took advantage of great field position, a luxury they failed to capitalize on a week ago against Kentucky.
After the Vols’ defense forced a three-and-out, Tennessee took over on their own 47-yard line. Seven plays and 55 yards later, Tennessee would score.
However, a penalty on Lance Heard for pulling Iamaleava passed the line to gain forced the Vols to retry the down and three yards further back for a 4th and 6 attempt.
During that same opening drive, Dylan Sampson rushed for 28 yards. That effort helped the junior running back eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards on the season and 2,000 yards in his career.
Iamaleava and the offense continued its success in its opening drive of the second quarter.
This time it only took one play, to his most explosive receiver in Dont’e Thornton, to reach the endzone. Iamaleava connected with Thornton on a 73-yard bomb!
This outdid #1‘s previous long of 66 yards against Oklahoma.
Tennessee takes a 14-0 lead with 13:35 left in the half.
On defense for the Vols, Boo Carter was the star of the show.
On Mississippi State’s first play of the game, Michael Van Burren completed a short pass to the right side to Davon Booth but before the receiver could make a move Boo Carter flew in for a massive tackle and loss of one-yard on the play.
Later in the first quarter, Sampson would fumble the ball for the third straight time in as many games and the Bulldogs would recover on their own 8-yard line.
The second play of that drive, Carter came up with a massive interception which he returned for 9 yards to the State’s 9-yard line.
Unfortunately, four straight short rushes up the middle by Peyton Lewis ended in a turnover on downs at the 1-yard line.
Carter also had a nice play on special teams in punt coverage, when he returned the punt 28 yards to the Tennessee 35-yard line.
Carter continued to take the field with the special teams and was once again incredibly efficient with his returns.
After a 46-yard punt by Nick Barr-Mira, Carter forewent the fair catch and danced his way through traffic in the middle of the field for 23 yards to set the Vols up at State’s 46-yard line.
After a couple of quick plays by the Vols’ offense, it was enough to get them in field-goal range.
Max Gilbert narrowly made his first field goal attempt but from further out at 38-yards he split the uprights.
His kick extended Tennessee’s lead 20-7 and he was absolutely juiced after starting 2-2 on the night following an 0-3 effort against the Wildcats and a 1-3 night against Alabama.
SECOND HALF
To start the second half, Iamaleava would not take the field as ESPN stated he was ruled out with an upper-body injury.
He finished the night completing five of his final six attempts to go 8-13 for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
Iamaleava had four explosive plays in the first half for 145 passing yards. One was a touchdown pass to White and another a 73-yard pass to Thornton.
Gaston Moore would take over at quarterback.
His first drive was a three-and-out after two short runs by Cam Seldon and a 2-yard run by Moore. On his second drive, the Vols converted for two first downs then a holding penalty was too much to overcome and Gilbert would take the field.
This time, for the chance to set a new career-long. He’d split the uprights for a 51-yard field goal, 23-7 Tennessee.
The following drive ended in a Sampson score, and his streak of reaching the endzone in every game continued.
On the seven-play drive, Sampson carried it five of the last six plays. The final touch went 33 yards to the checkered endzone for his 20th touchdown on the season!
Tennessee would take victory formation on the final play to see their 33-14 homecoming win ove the Bulldogs.