It was an ugly, scrappy contest, but one that had a beautiful ending for Tennessee.
Former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis had a very famous phrase: “Just win, baby.”
That’s a phrase that Tennessee fans will surely take to heart after Saturday night, and in any game between the Vols and the Gators. The Vols found a way, barely, to escape Florida 23-17 on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. Dylan Sampson pounded the ball in from the 1-yard line in overtime for a walk-off win for Tennessee.
Sampson was the straw that stirred the drink for a Tennessee offense that struggled for much of the night. He totaled 112 yards on 27 carries with 2 rushing scores. Squirrel White led UT’s receivers with 5 catches for 71 yards. But QB Nico Iamaleava struggled for a second straight game under center, going 16/26 for 169 yards with an interception.
Tennessee’s offense was abysmal for a half of football, getting shut out for the entire first half. That was in part due to the tone set by the Vols’ offense on the opening drive of the game. After working their way with relative ease down to the Florida 24, facing 3rd and 1, Iamaleava fumbled the exchange on a handoff, pulling it back and losing the ball, which Florida recovered. The Vols wouldn’t sniff scoring again for the rest of the half.
But the Vols’ defense held strong for the first half, turning Florida away twice in the red zone, once on a turnover on downs, and once when James Pearce, Jr. forced a fumble at the half yard line and recovered. The Gators led 3-0 at the half.
They pushed their lead to 10-0 after going on a 92-yard drive with Graham Mertz throwing an 18-yard touchdown. However, on the throw, he suffered some form of undisclosed non-contact lower body injury, and he was out the rest of the game.
From that point, Tennessee rallied for 17 straight points, going 75 yards to get on the board on a Sampson 4th down touchdown run before intercepting Florida QB D.J. Lagway deep in Florida territory on the next drive. That led to a field goal. Two drives later Sampson took it 23 yards to the end zone, and the Vols had seized the lead and momentum with under 10 minutes to go.
Florida kept punting back to Tennessee, but the Vols could do absolutely nothing to salt the game away. The punted back with under 3 minutes left, and it finally burned them when Lagway connected with Chimere Dike on 3rd and 19 with from the Tennessee 27 for a touchdown with 29 seconds left to tie the game.
Tennessee stalled out at midfield, and the game went to overtime. After a false start and tackle for loss backed the Gators up, Trey Smack pushed a 47-yard field goal attempt just wide right. Heupel put the ball in Dylan Sampson’s hands in overtime, and he was able to eventually fight his way into the end zone behind a Tennessee offensive line that started terribly but finished strong.
The Vols improved to 5-1, with a top 10 matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide on deck next Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.