The Tennessee Volunteers did what they had to do on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, topping the Vanderbilt Commodores 36-23 in the teams’ regular season finale.
The win moves the Vols to 10-2 and, already at #8 in the College Football Playoff rankings, should ensure them a spot in the field with their regular season finished.
Nico Iamaleava was 18/26 for 257 yards with 4 touchdowns. Dylan Sampson had 25 carries for 178 yards. Dont’e Thornton, Jr. had 3 catches for 112 yards with 2 touchdowns.
The game started off disastrously for the Big Orange, with Vandy returning the game’s opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. After Sampson fumbled on the ensuing drive, the Commodores drove 26 yards in 7 plays for a 14-0 lead just five minutes into the contest.
From there, it was almost all Tennessee for the remaining 55 minutes, outscoring Vandy 36-9 the rest of the way. Nico connected with Thornton from 28 yards for the duo’s first score of the day to get UT on the board. Then, after Max Gilbert doinked a 50-yarder through off the crossbar, Nico and Thornton connected again for 86 yards to finally bring the Vols even at 17. Then, in two-minute mode from their own four, UT went 96 yards to claim the halftime lead on an 18-yard dime from Nico to Miles Kitselman.
Tennessee extended their lead right out of the locker room to 31-17 on a 13-play, 75-yard drive that lasted more than six minutes. Mike Matthews caught his first career touchdown pass – a 14-yarder – to culminate the drive and give UT some breathing room.
From there, the defense locked down, allowing 6 points the rest of the way while adding a safety in the third quarter.
Over the last three quarters, Tennessee dominated, and now, with Ohio State losing to Michigan 13-10, the Vols could be in position to possibly even host a playoff game, with other results still taking place around the country.
Indeed, today especially, it’s great to be a Tennessee Vol.