Tennessee football took care of business and knocked off Mississippi State 33-14 on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. The Vols played solid on the field but the story of the night was Nico Iamaleava not playing in the second half after he suffered an injury late in the first half.
Meeting with the media after the game, Josh Heupel provided a positive injury update on Iamaleava. He called sitting him out “precautionary” and that he anticipates him being ready for next week’s game at Georgia.
“We anticipate having him ready for next week,” Heupel said. “Precautionary measure at halftime. Feel like we’ll be ready to roll Saturday.”
It’s unclear what play Iamaleava was injured on against the Bulldogs. He took a big hit on an incomplete third down throw on Tennessee’s second to final drive of the first half but he returned for the ensuing drive where he handed the ball to Cam Seldon and completed a 21-yard pass to Squirrel White for a first down to set up a field goal to end the drive.
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Iamaleava turned in a strong first half before the injury, completing eight-of-13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 22 yards on four carries. The two touchdowns came on big plays that Tennessee football’s offense has been lacking for much of the season.
The redshirt freshman quarterback hit Squirrel White for a 34-yard touchdown on Tennessee’s first drive of the game and later found Dont’e Thornton for a 73-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
Backup quarterback Gaston Moore turned in a solid but simple performance in the second half, completing five-of-eight passes for 38 yards. With the veteran walk-on playing, Tennessee took a lot of vertical shots down the field while also leaning on its run game.
Moore didn’t complete any of those deep shots but Tennessee did move the chains with pass interference calls on three of those plays.
Tennessee has one of its biggest games of the season next week as they head to Athens to face Georgia in a critical matchup for SEC Championship and College Football Playoff ramifications.
