Tennessee football’s first half offensive issues continued but the Vols overcame another second half deficit to beat Kentucky 28-18 on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
Here’s five critical moments from Tennessee’s fourth straight win over the Wildcats.
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Kentucky Takes An Early Lead
Kentucky squandering a 50-yard play to open the game and a trip inside the 10-yard line on its opening drive felt like it would be back breaking for the Wildcats.
But after Tennessee failed to capitalize on a red zone trip of its own on its first drive of the game, the Wildcats responded in impressive fashion. Kentucky marched 75 yards on six plays thanks to pass plays of 25, 17 and 27 yards. The final completion came on a busted coverage and ended in the checkerboards as Kentucky took an early lead.
With Tennessee’s offense squandering more first half scoring opportunities, Kentucky finding the end zone early changed the outlook of the game and led them to taking the lead at halftime. While it never felt like Tennessee was going to lose, that did change the dynamic of a game I predicted to be a blowout.
Josh Josephs Finally Gets A Sack
LEO Josh Josephs has truly been one of the breakout players on Tennessee’s defense this season. That’s what made it so surprising that he had yet to record a sack entering Saturday’s game.
He made his first one count, stripping Brock Vandagriff and setting Tennessee up at the Wildcats’ 28-yard line. Dylan Sampson found the end zone five plays later to give the Vols their first lead of the night.
Josephs with the sack
Telander with the recoveryVols in business
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The context of the play is important too. This play cane right after Max Gilbert missed a short field goal that would have tied the game. Tennessee needed some life. Josephs gave them a huge jolt of it.
Will Brooks Strikes Again
Tennessee got its second game changing turnover just two drives later and this one came from a player who’s made a number of game changing plays this season.
Will Brooks jumped in front of a Gavin Wimsatt third down pass and returned it 67 yards to the Kentucky 10-yard line. He probably would have scored if he angled his return better to the corner but it didn’t end up mattering.
Nico Iamaleava found Miles Kitselman two plays later for a six-yard touchdown as Tennessee took an 11-point lead in the second half.
Kentucky Stays Alive With Two Big Pass Plays
Frankly, the game felt over when Tennessee scored the previously mentioned touchdown to stretch its lead to 21-10. But credit Kentucky for not hearing the bell and putting together a scoring drive that made the game feel very real again.
Good protection helped Kentucky hit a 26-yard pass to move the sticks on third-and-nine to open the drive. Then Kentucky scored the first touchdown on Jermod McCoy all season as Ja’Mori McClain moss’d him for a 32-yard score.
McClain had another contested catch on the two-point play and all of a sudden it was a three-point game again in the fourth quarter.
The Game Sealing Drive
Tennessee would have pushed its lead back to three scores just three plays later if Chas Nimrod hauled in Nico Iamaleava’s best pass on a night that had an abundance of them.
But the Vols got a stop and then got the ball back at their own nine-yard line with 10:09 to play. Then Tennessee put together its best drive of the night, going 91 yards on 13 plays to all but put the game away.
Iamaleava completed all five of his passes on the drive for 49 yards including two big throws to move the sticks on third down. He also ran for nine yards on a pair of carries.
Dylan Sampson did the other work on the drive, rushing for 35 yards on six carries including the six-yard touchdown that made him Tennessee’s new single-season rushing touchdown record holder. For an offense that’s been frustrating, there was something simply beautiful about that score as all 10 players pushed Sampson the final four yards for the score.
