Tennessee football started slowly before coasting past UTEP 56-0 for a Senior Day victory at Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the lopsided win.
Putrid First Quarter
Tennessee was looking to quickly dispatch of its Conference USA foe and to earn some style points in its final home game of the regular season. The Vols did the exact opposite, looking like they’d rather be anywhere but Neyland Stadium in the first quarter.
Nico Iamaleava’s first pass of the game was a fitting representation of the Vols’ first quarter. Squirrel White was running over the middle wide open and Iamaleava threw it well behind him with the pass nearly being intercepted.
Tennessee moved the sticks on the final play of the first quarter and it was just the Vols’ second first down of the quarter as UTEP out gained them 76-37. The Vols defense was overall solid besides a couple trick plays and successfully kept the Miners off the scoreboard.
But the terrible first quarter from the offense was enough to make it a very bad first quarter for the team. Iamaleava struggled badly as well as he missed what would have been a massive gain and maybe even a touchdown to Bru McCoy.
Tennessee’s Starting Corners Make Plays
The biggest revelation for Tennessee football this season has been the plays of sophomore starting corners Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson. McCoy has played like one of the best corners in the SEC this season while Gibson has been solid and keeps improving as the year goes on.
McCoy made one of the biggest plays of the game when UTEP was on its best drive of the first quarter. Miners quarterback Skyler Locklear took a deep shot down the right sideline and McCoy turned his head and made a nice interception down the sideline.
Then in the second quarter with Tennessee leading 7-0, Locklear completed a pass on a drag route across the middle. Gibson had great coverage and was there to immediately make the tackle. He didn’t only make the tackle but he also ripped the ball out and Tennessee recovered the fumble.
Tennessee followed it up with its second touchdown drive of the night as they started to take control of the game. But while the Vols sputtered, their starting corners picked them up.
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Iamaleava Bounces Back After Bad Start
After a poor start that saw Nico Iamaleava complete only two of his first six passes for 14 yards, Iamaleava responded really well.
Tennessee’s offense was still lacking the deep shots down the field but Iamaleava was accurate throwing the ball short and in the intermediate as he went on to complete 17-of-23 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns. He threw three second quarter touchdowns as the Vols blew the game open including a really nice 18-yard touchdown pass to Bru McCoy in the corner of the end zone with just eight seconds left in the half.
The redshirt freshman quarterback also made some plays with his legs, totaling 36 yards on the ground despite being sacked three times.
Iamaleava struggled to open the game and wasn’t perfect the rest of the game as Tennessee’s offense failed to take the top off. But he didn’t let the poor start balloon on him.
Dylan Sampson Streak Ends, Rushing Success Continues
Tennessee star running back Dylan Sampson entered the game having six straight games of over 100 yards rushing. That streak ended against UTEP as the junior rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
It wasn’t that Sampson didn’t have a good game but just that he didn’t get that many carries in a blowout win. Even with his season-low in carries, Sampson would have eclipsed 100 yards if it weren’t for a holding call on a long run in the third quarter.
But while Sampson didn’t have his normal massive rushing performance, Tennessee still ran the ball really well.
Freshman Peyton Lewis totaled 47 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries while sophomore Cam Seldon totaled 44 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. It was a nice day from those two backs with Sampson working little and DeSean Bishop still out due to injury.
